The Ruins of Elerise
by FasterGhost
Summary: What if the protheans were not all killed by the reapers? What if some of them survived into this cycle? It is far-fetched but when new evidence is discovered, Javik the last prothean joins his old comrades on a quest to find the survivors (FemShep/Liara pairing).
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story is happening in the same universe as my other stories (the character of Syrila T'Soni is briefly mentioned). However, it is perfectly possible to read this on its own. Thanks to** _ **Theodur**_ **for letting me use the name for Aria's and Tevos's daughter and for permanently implanting the entire concept of Shepard/Liara/Tevos/Aria friendship into my head.**

 **Enjoy and please review if you can :-)**

* * *

 **Thessia, 2214 CE**

"Give it up, Shepard! You have lost!" Aria T'Loak hissed in anger. Exertion was palpable on her face, but her expression was as furious as ever.

"Never!" Shepard shot back. The human spectre was in equally disheveled state as she fought against her vicious opponent with all her might.

Both of them were pushing their body's limits but nobody was backing down…

Liara just rolled her eyes as she watched them.

In a hindsight, she should have seen this coming…

An informal get-together between Councilor Tevos, Aria T'Loak, Shepard and her at the T'Soni mansion. Too much alcohol and good mood. Shepard and Aria engaging in their usual bickering… it was the standard recipe, really.

Its current result was Shepard and Aria engaged in an _arm wrestling match_ (since Shepard suggested that anything involving biotics was hardly fair). They were both sitting at opposite sides of the table, going at it hard while their respective bondmates stood by them and cheered them on.

Their rowdy behavior was further amplified by the fact the main house was a child-free zone for tonight.

Shepard's and Liara's two daughters were spending a week of their summer holidays at the house of their grandaunt and grandfather.

Ever since Syrila T'Soni, _her aunt_ , and matriarch Aethyta, _her father_ , got together, the familial relationships became slightly more complicated for Liara.

Syrila was now also her stepmother while Aethyta became her aunt-in-law. To make matters more complicated, the couple had two children together – twins named _**Amalia**_ and _**Atala**_. They were Liara's cousins but at the same time, her half-siblings. For Liara's children, they were aunts but also cousins once-removed.

Of course, none of them were too big on using the proper titles for each other. Mainly, it just amused Liara to think about all of it.

Syrila's and Aethyta's new home was built on T'Sonis ancestral grounds, just few miles away from the main mansion. As a result, the children were growing up together. Especially since they were all roughly the same age – Liara's second daughter, _**Hannah**_ , was born only two months after Syrila had her twins.

Together, the _**T'Soni girls**_ were an unstoppable force that often left their parents trembling in fear at what was going to happen next.

And very often, they were augmented by a fifth gang member – Aria's and Tevos' daughter – _**Kalliria**_.

Since their families grew very close after the war, the councilor and the pirate queen bought a house in Armali, not far from T'Sonis.

Kalliria and the T'Soni girls became fast friends and would often do sleepovers. Like today.

Liara admired Syrila's and Aethyta's courage for willingly getting responsible for five asari children for an entire week.

Naturally, Liara missed her daughters, but she took comfort in the fact that they were both in a walking distance and under the care of the two persons she trusted the most beside Shepard.

Besides, it allowed her and her bondmate to spend some time with their dear and unforeseen friends.

"You are weakening, Shepard. I can see it in your eyes…" Aria mumbled as she moved for a final push against Shepard's hand.

Liara smiled as she leaned over and kissed her bondmate's tightened bicep, elucidating smile and renewed resolve from her.

"Hey, that's cheating!" Aria called. She looked over to Tevos pleadingly, but her bondmate turned her head, denying her silent request.

"Don't look at me… you are the one who wanted to _arm wrestle_ with our best spectre"

Liara and Tevos grinned at each other, but before they could say more Liara's omni-tool rang.

She moved aside to take the call. "Yes?" Liara said.

"Mistress T'Soni…" the acolyte on duty replied. "There is a visitor at the gate demanding to speak with you _immediately_ "

"Who is it?" Liara asked, wondering who could possibly want to see her at this hour. It would have to be someone noteworthy or her acolytes would not even bother her with it.

Liara was the most famous asari on Thessia and her guards were turning away dozens of nutcases and unwanted solicitors every day.

She could hear a commotion on the other side, but there was one sentence and voice she clearly picked up.

"… _I don't have to explain myself to primitives…"_

Immediately recognizing who her _guest_ was, Liara sighed in exasperation. "Let him in… I will meet him at the main entrance" she commanded her acolyte. She excused herself from her friends as she walked to the entry hall to meet _**Javik**_.

To say that her relationship with the last prothean was difficult would be an understatement. After the war, Javik kept only minimal contact with anyone from the Normandy.

He and Liara wrote a popular book together, but other than that he did not keep in touch. He never settled down either, choosing to aimlessly travel galaxy as a vagrant.

It was not that he lacked the financial means to live differently. Between the war pension and royalties from _**Journeys With A Prothean**_ , he had more than enough money to secure a comfortable existence.

The problem was that he was not interested. He was not interested in anything lately.

On some levels, Liara understood why he was like that.

All he ever knew in his life was defending his people from the reapers. But protheans were long gone… and now, so were the reapers.

When Shepard revived him from stasis during the reaper war, Javik chose to join them in order to avenge his people.

His vengeance was now done and he felt like there was nothing left for him to do.

This led him into situations that made Shepard and Liara worried for him. As a shadow broker, she got reports of him getting into pointless personal fights all over citadel space. At one point, Javik even tried to join Aria's crime ring on Omega. Apparently, Aria's activities in the terminus systems impressed him, reminding of the prothean empire of old. But soon he saw that the pirate queen was not interested in building any kind of empire and he became… _vocal_.

In essence, he gave everyone the same kind of crap as he did on the Normandy during the war. Only this time, it was Aria T'Loak who was his boss, not the open minded and _used-to-deal-with-bullshit_ spectre Jane Shepard.

When he openly criticized her authority, it was only for the sake of her friendship with Shepard and Liara that Aria did not execute him on the spot. Instead, she kicked him off the station, vowing to kill him if he ever came back.

It was for this reason that Liara did not tell her friends just who it was asking to see her.

Hopefully, she'd be able to deal with whatever Javik wanted without him and Aria seeing each other. Failing that… well, the house had a large insurance.

She arrived into the entry hall just as Javik entered, escorted by one of the acolytes. She and her principal nodded at each other before she left them alone.

Liara saw that the prothean was still wearing the battle armor he was originally frozen in. A last connection to his people, he was unwilling to part with it. As a result, it was now patched up about million times, albeit still functional.

"Javik… welcome and come in. To what do I owe the pleasure?" she asked him while examining the man carefully. There was a strange anxiety plastered on his face.

Instead of answering, Javik pulled a small datapad out of his pocket.

"Liara… I want you to look at this" he urged her, pushing the datapad into her hand.

Seeing his urgency, she took the device from him and read the headline.

"A report from the team examining the prothean Archives on Thessia?" she asked him.

For decades, the asari have been delivering progress reports of their work to Javik. They hoped to finally convince him to help them with deciphering the information.

With a living prothean helping them, they could learn in day what normally took years.

However, Javik adamantly refused any such requests, insisting that he was not interested in teaching primitives how to read.

"You told me that you did not even read the reports anymore" Liara pointed out as she held the datapad.

"I lied… I read every one of them…" he admitted. "And this one… it's important. Just read"

"The _**Elerise**_ …" Liara silently whispered the word as she read the report.

This was the first time she saw any reference to _Elerise_ in the data from the Archives. However, she was not sure where Javik was going with this.

"Why come to me? I primarily studied prothean history, not asari…" she wondered.

"Regardless, you are the only one in this cycle with enough intelligence to potentially help me with this" he told her plainly.

"Thanks… I guess" Liara sneered at him as she read more.

"Why not contact the people working in the Archives, though?"

"No!" Javik snapped. "I can't. I do not want the asari government hearing about any of this" he insisted.

Unfortunately for him, councilor Tevos was just on her way to find Liara to tell her the result of the arm wrestling between their bondmates.

She walked into the entry hall just in time to accidentally overhear Javik arguing with Liara.

"The asari government not hearing about what now?"

* * *

After accidentally speaking in front of Tevos, Liara convinced Javik that his plan for secrecy was pointless. She told him that she'd help him, but would not keep secrets from her friends.

The last prothean agreed and was set up in the guest room for the night.

The next day, they all gathered in one of the lounges to hear what he had to say – Shepard, Liara, Tevos and Aria.

Surprisingly, the pirate queen did not show any emotional reaction towards his presence beyond wondering what _'that loser'_ wanted. She was going to leave, but stayed for the sake of her bondmate who was very much interested in Javik's theory…

"Elerise is a myth…" Tevos said once everyone gathered. "Just one of the many lies that your people told my ancestors"

While Tevos argued with Javik, Liara silently explained everything to Shepard as the human was not as well versed in asari mythology.

According to the myth, the _ **Elerise**_ was a place where goddess Athame gathered her favorite asari to live together in eternal happiness and harmony. It was roughly equivalent to the human believe of heaven.

"That is not entirely true, asari…" Javik told her. " _ **Elerise**_ was very much real"

"Except it was not afterlife but a prothean colony world. An _asari uplift project_ was stationed there"

"What are you saying?" Liara asked in shock. "You actually _took_ asari away from Thessia?"

She knew that the protheans meddled in the affairs of her homeworld but outright abducting the asari was new to her.

Javik nodded. "The Elerise project ran parallel with the others, but yes."

"Natural development was too slow. We wanted to see if the asari could be culturally and genetically uplifted to serve the empire"

"How many asari did you take?" Shepard quietly whispered, afraid of the answer.

Javik shrugged. "About 100 000…"

"Goddess…" Tevos gasped. Given the small size of ancient populations, the protheans must have made a substantial dent in the asari numbers of that time.

"Fuck…" Aria summed up what everyone was feeling.

However, Javik was not interested in debating the morality of prothean policy of that time.

"What's important is that Elerise project existed on a single colony" he said.

"Where?" Liara demanded.

"In Pylos Nebula… but that is irrelevant" he dismissed her question. "The strange thing is that I have _no idea_ what happened to that colony"

Aria snorted. "Ehh… perhaps destroyed by the reapers like the rest of them? Ever figured that, fish head?"

Javik shot daggers at her. "Hard to imagine how _**you**_ ever built space ships, asari…" he shot back before answering his own question.

"Oh, that is right. You stole the plans from our Archive…" he said and laughed.

It was only Tevos' hand on her shoulder that prevented Aria from charging at Javik at full speed.

Trying to bring them back to the topic, Liara urged Javik to tell them more.

"The fate of Elerise was a mystery even in my time… that is the strange part" he then said. "There was no evidence what happened to it"

"Forgive me, Javik…" Shepard interjected. "But how is this strange?" she continued. "During our war with the reapers, I cannot even count how many of our colonies went silent without any trace… they were too small and the reapers simply blasted them from the orbit"

"Rrr. You forget that prothean communication technology was not as primitive as yours. We had the beacon network, the memory shards, our touch ability…." Javik explained.

"Thanks to these, the records of our extermination were very _accurate_ " he said sarcastically.

"How accurate?" Shepard asked.

"By the time of my freezing, there were only six major colony worlds whose fate was a mystery" Javik added. "The rest was preserved in the memory shards"

"And Elerise is one of the six…" Liara deduced.

Javik nodded. "It is the _**last**_ of the six"

"During the past two decades, I confirmed that the reapers destroyed the other five… as I expected. Elerise is all that remains"

"So that's what you have been doing!" Liara exclaimed. "But why?"

Javik looked her straight in the eyes.

"I believe that more of my people may have survived into this cycle"

After everyone's shock wore off a little, he began to tell them the story of his past twenty years.

It all started after the reaper war. Seeing that the enemy was neither invincible nor infallible, he asked himself a simple question.

" _What if more of my people stayed hidden like me? What if they avoided the detection by the reapers? What if they are still out there?"_

The idea became a warm beacon of hope in suddenly cold galaxy.

To verify it, he began searching all the potential fallback sites considered by the protheans of his time.

Finding graveyard after graveyard was causing him a terrible depression, but he did not give up.

When he found nothing, he began investigating the former prothean planets, especially those where survivors were a possibility.

That led him to Elerise. This colony was still a mystery. When he physically got there, there was no evidence to point in either direction.

"I still don't understand how _**our**_ Archives have anything to do with this…" Aria jabbed the words at him.

Javik snarled as he pushed a datapad across the table in her direction. Aria effortlessly caught it and began to read.

"Recently, the asari primitives that have been desperately trying to grasp prothean technology made a relevant discovery…" he explained.

Aria finished reading and handed the datapad to her bondmate.

"A virus?" the councilor asked as she began to read the report.

"Indeed" Javik said as he explained.

There was a virus found within the Archives' system. It was designed to eliminate any references to the project Elerise from the databanks and then erase itself…

It succeeded in the former but due to system error failed in the latter.

"They were probably trying to hide the full details of the project from the future asari" Shepard wondered out loud, but Javik turned his head.

"I see no reason why. Their opinion hardly mattered to us" he said tersely.

Tevos continued to read the datapad. "The timestamp, that's not possible"

"… 98 years after the protheans withdrew from Thessia, yes" Javik finished her sentence.

At that time, there was no more prothean empire to speak of. All major worlds were destroyed and the imperial fleet was gone.

"How is that possible?" Liara asked as she took the datapad for herself.

"Remote access…" Javik told her.

"Ninety-eight years later. The protheans that still lived have forgotten about Thessia long ago. And yet someone remotely accessed the Archives on its surface in order to upload a single virus…"

"And I ask a question… why would anyone do that?" Javik concluded his speech. "Unless…"

"Unless someone did not want Elerise found… in that cycle or any other" Shepard supplied.

Everyone was silent for a moment as they digested the information.

"It sounds like you have a plan… what do you suggest?" Liara spoke.

"I believe that some of the colonists from Elerise escaped and managed to stay hidden during the harvest. Possibly even along with their asari _test subjects_ " Javik spoke.

"Their descendants could still alive… if so, I want to find them"

"Do you have any idea where to look?" Shepard asked.

"Yes," Javik confirmed. "The virus that was uploaded into the Archives originated from a prothean supply depot in the Michrah system in Perseus Veil. That should be a good place to start"

"Wait a minute, I heard about that place during my studies!" Liara informed them.

"They discovered prothean ruins there. The quarians were in the process of exploring them just before the geth rebelled and drove them off"

"They found only the ruins. There were no living protheans… I am sorry, Javik"

The prothean growled. "There might be some trace of what happened to them. We have to go there!" he yelled at her with desperation in his voice.

Liara sighed. "I understand your desire to see your people alive, Javik. I do. But we have all witnessed what the reapers were capable of"

"How did the VI on Ilos describe them? _Brutal, relentless, and absolutely thorough_ " she repeated the words they heard long ago.

"It is hard to imagine they would overlook anything"

Javik frowned at her words, but Shepard understood her bondmate's skepticism.

In billion years, there was seemingly only one advanced species that managed to survive the reapers – _**the Leviathan**_.

But they had the advantage of having created the reapers. They knew _exactly_ how their enemy thought and worked. They also had some powerful technology they never shared with their creations, allowing few of them to survive unharmed.

Many feared that the Leviathan would become the next galactic menace as soon as the reapers were defeated.

Fortunately, by joining the fight they also inevitably permitted the organic engineers to examine their mind controlling artifacts in detail. They developed effective ways of detecting and countering their influence.

With their main weapon of conquest useless, the enigmatic species broke all contact with the Citadel races and disappeared below the oceans of their world. Nobody heard from them ever again and the Council eventually imposed a permanent quarantine of their solar system…

Javik could very well be grasping for straws with his theory, but there was also the bigger issue to consider.

"I think it makes sense…" Shepard said before explaining to them her theory. It was something she has been thinking about for a while.

The galaxy was a very big place and they explored only about 1% of it. There was no doubt that the reapers explored much more, but she doubted that even they have seen it all.

Potentially, there could be entire civilizations that managed to hide from the reapers in the past harvests. There were many systems too far away from any mass relays as well as rogue planets that could serve as sanctuary.

And even if the reapers truly controlled all of _**Milky Way**_ , it was only a single galaxy and not the end of the universe.

Survivors of the past cycles might have escaped into one of the dwarf galaxies that orbited our own. Or they could have travelled into _**Andromeda**_ , the other great galaxy of the local group.

The odds of making such long journey through the dark space were astronomical.

But even if the success rate was one in a billion, it was certain that somebody still made it in the long eons that the reapers carried out their cycles of extinction.

"Interesting…" Aria reluctantly admitted. "But if somebody was hiding from the reapers, why didn't they show themselves already? The machines are gone!"

Shepard had to concede that this was a weak point of her theory. There truly were no advanced civilizations coming out of hiding anywhere.

It was possible they were unaware of the reaper's destruction or were unable or unwilling to reveal themselves.

Alternatively, the reapers were truly _absolutely thorough_ and there was no one out there. But Shepard did not believe that…

After they discussed everyone's opinion, it was time for a decision.

"Even if we are lucky, I only expect to find another graveyard" Javik sorrowfully admitted at the end.

"However if there is only a small chance remaining, I have to see it through…"

"Would any of you do otherwise in my place?" he finally asked them.

Nobody, even Aria, did challenge that point.

Ultimately, the decision was up to councilor Tevos.

"What Shepard said about the largely unexplored galaxy is true… we have discussed the possibility among the Council" she told them and turned to Javik.

"However, I was already convinced by your initial argument – the protheans could still be alive. And if they are, we owe it to them to thank them for making our victory possible"

"Not to mention our own people who were kidnapped… this makes it an asari internal affair. Therefore, I am assigning a spectre to find out what happened to them" she said as she found a political loophole. Aria broadly smiled at that. She always found her bondmate's political prowess very sexy.

"Shepard, since Michrah system is deep in the geth space, I believe you would be the best choice for the job" Tevos tentatively suggested to which Shepard saluted.

The geth still held Shepard in special regard and it was usually her who would negotiate with the machines on behalf of the Council.

"Wherever you go for this, I am coming with you" Javik said resolutely before he and Shepard shook hands.

"And so am I!" Liara decided as she stood up and walked next to Shepard. "You need an expert on both prothean and asari history and that's me!"

Shepard smiled at the dancing flame of excitement in her bondmate's eyes and the two of them shared a kiss.

"I suppose that we will need a ship…" she said afterwards. "I'll make the call"


	2. Chapter 2

**Thessia, 2214 CE**

As a relatively young asari, Liara often asked herself a question.

" _What would my mother say?"_

Usually, she and her _inner Benezia_ were in agreement. But sometimes, she wondered if she would be in for a scolding instead.

Like now… going on yet another adventure into the great unknown.

Would Benezia think that she was _too old_ for this and should stay home with her family?

Or would she think the exact opposite? That she was _too young_ to have a family and should rather go out and have adventures?

Liara wasn't sure.

What she _did_ know for certain was that Benezia would probably be concerned about her choice in sitters.

She would not mind her ardat-yakshi sister, Syrila.

But Aethyta or councilor Tevos? That would be pushing it.

And Aria T'Loak? In her worst nightmare…

The children were going to spend the rest of their week with Syrila and Aethyta.

And if their parents still won't be back by then, auntie Tevos and Aria agreed to look after them in the meantime.

Naturally, the children were curious where their parents were going.

The youngest, Hannah asked if they were going to be doing ' _Daddy's boom-boom things'_

Shepard smiled and explained to her that this time, it would be ' _Mommy's dusty prothean things_ '

After saying goodbye to their daughters and friends, Shepard travelled ahead to get the ship ready.

After getting ready herself, Liara travelled to the space dock and walked to the correct airlock.

The air in the chamber hissed as the doors opened and she stepped aboard _**Normandy**_ again.

"Hello, Liara. Have to say that you are the most lovely sight to walk in here all day" the Normandy's pilot turned in his chair to greet her as she emerged from the ships airlock.

"Actually, don't tell Shepard that I said that…" he quickly added.

" _It seems that Joker did not change much…"_ she thought with a pang of nostalgia. At least this time, she did not walk up on him watching human/asari porn movie.

"It's good to see you too, Jeff" Liara grinned at him before they shared a hug.

Stepping onto the Normandy again felt strange for Liara. She has been there several times since the war, but only for brief moments.

Now, they were taking the ship on another mission. One could say that it was just like old times, but that was not accurate. Almost three decades went by. Life moved on and everything changed.

Normandy SR-2 was no longer the home it used to be. Thessia was.

But of course, she was still very much looking forward to reminiscing with Shepard in their old quarters…

However, with the exception of the pilot Joker, there was no one left from the original crew. And even he had only few years left before retirement.

After the war there was a lively discussion about what to do with Normandy. Some wanted to turn her into a museum while others insisted she remained in service.

In the end, the ship was decommissioned from the Alliance fleet and designated as a spectre vessel. The agents of the Citadel would request its use whenever they needed.

Most often, that would be Shepard. She always requested Normandy for her missions if the ship was free at the moment.

As for the Normandy's crew, they mostly went their own way. The amount of destruction left in the reaper's wake was staggering and kept everyone busy for the following decade.

Lieutenant James Vega was now _**rear admiral**_ James Vega. After completing the N7 program and spending few years in the mud, he climbed the ranks and was now in command of the Alliance 5th fleet.

Although not everyone stayed with the military…

As a spectre, Ashley Williams helped calm the turmoil that followed the victory over reapers. But few years later, she retired from the military altogether and went on to found a private security company on Earth.

Seen as a decent alternative to the mercenary guilds, it quickly grew as a number one security firm in the Alliance space. Ashley herself lived with her family on Earth.

On spur of a moment, Garrus Vakarian and Tali'Zorah were married right after the victory celebration was over.

Turians were hit horribly by the reapers and quarians were not in a great shape to begin with. As a very prominent couple in both societies, Garrus and Tali alternately lived on Rannoch and Palaven, helping wherever they could.

They had a family too – one quarian and one turian child. Tali by donor and Garrus by surrogacy…

Liara took the elevator to the crew deck. When it reached its destination, she stepped out of it only to come to face with a painful reminder.

The memorial wall was still there, carrying names of everyone that lost their lives in the reaper war… some within the very last second.

Tragically, EDI's AI core was so much based on reaper technology that when the Crucible fired, she was destroyed along with the enemy.

The geth very nearly suffered the same fate. But they only possessed reaper coding, not hardware and were able to recover.

Loss of EDI hit Joker very hard and he was going to leave Normandy like everyone else.

But at one point, he met _Kelly Chambers_ , Shepard's former yeoman, on the Citadel who worked there as a psychologist.

From what she heard, the two of them initially bonded over their memories of EDI… and one thing led to another.

Now, they were known as Mr. and Mrs. _**Moreau**_ and had one child together.

Liara was glad that he found happiness despite the loss.

In fact, all of their friends were rather content with their present lives, as far as Liara could tell.

This meant a world to Shepard who, despite not being their commander for many years, still felt responsible for them in many ways.

The only unhappy exception was Javik… and with luck, that was going to change on this trip. The last prothean might never find happiness, but perhaps he could have a _**closure**_.

After Liara, Shepard and Javik got aboard, Normandy departed Thessia and headed for the Perseus Veil.

* * *

 **Captain's quarters**

The trip to the quarian home system was uneventful enough.

Especially as Javik locked himself in his former room the minute he came aboard and refused to socialize with anyone.

"What should we expect at the dig site?" Liara asked her bondmate while donning her battle armor.

Half a century ago, she would have carried civilian clothes to an archeological dig site, but an incident with geth and a very large krogan battlemaster taught her otherwise.

"The geth began to work on it as soon, as I contacted them…" Shepard told her. "The depot was built into the rock face and is remarkably preserved"

Liara nodded. She looked forward to an archeological work again. Between being Shadow Broker (although she shared this burden with Syrila now), managing T'Soni family assets, and being mother to two beautiful daughters, she did not have much time left for her original profession.

As expected, the geth immediately responded to Shepard's request and granted her unlimited access to the system and to the prothean ruins.

As soon as the Normandy exited the mass relay in the quarian home system, she engaged the FTL drive to jump into the Michrah system. They were heading to the outermost planet.

50 000 years ago, protheans heavily mined the entire system. A shipping station was created at its exit point to focus the flow of the resources.

During their war with the reapers, it was repurposed as a supply depot and, as they now realized, _a refugee camp_.

Shepard and Liara were looking forward to the mission. Their only regret was that they could not take a detour to Rannoch to visit Garrus and Tali and their family.

"The geth said the life support would be restored when we arrive, but we should be careful…" Shepard said.

"Yes. Hopefully there will be no prothean stasis bubbles to worry about"

Shepard laughed at the joke and the memory of it.

When there is _"How did the two of you meet?"_ story being told, Shepard and Liara usually win with theirs.

Most people are simply amused and that's the end of it.

Although, when they first told Aria and Tevos about it, Liara received a mass effect stasis generator for her next birthday.

" _For role-playing"_ Aria told them with smirk.

Liara was embarrassed to admit that they actually sometimes used it for special occasions…

Right after they finished gearing up, Joker spoke to them over the intercom. Evidently, his timing finally improved in his old days.

" _Shepard, the quarian and geth ambassadors have docked and are about to board"_

"Understood… we are on our way" Shepard said and they both headed into the elevator and towards the airlock.

After the war, the geth and the quarians went through an interesting development.

The negotiations between the former enemies were long and hard.

Not due to lack of good will, but because both sides wished to address every issue, every perceived grievance.

All so that the hostilities between them would never happen again…

These days, the quarians and the geth occupied the same region of space, although not the same planets.

The garden worlds like Rannoch were of vital importance to the organic quarians.

Geth on the other hand preferred vacuum of space, asteroids, or small planets with minimal atmosphere.

As a result, there was never a dispute over a living space between them.

That was the _first foundation_ of their friendship.

The _second_ concerned the economics.

The geth were moneyless society where individuals (if _individuals_ was the right word) worked for common good.

Such society is impossible for organics because evolution made them selfish and with a tendency to infinitely horde resources.

The humanity's earlier attempts at creating geth-like society (called _communism_ ) always failed because of that intrinsic selfishness.

Because the geth do not require a material reward for their work, a valid concern was that their 'free-labor' would overwhelm the galactic economy.

To prevent that, a law was passed so that all geth labor done for organics must always be more salaried than the same labor done by any other organic race.

In other words, their minimal wage was set so high that employing them was economically impossible for most. It might seem unfair to the geth, but it was actually their idea.

Despite their work being the most expensive in galaxy, there were still contracts negotiated between the organics and the geth – in some areas, the synthetics were simply unrivaled.

This left them with a money, but the geth had no need of credits for themselves. Therefore, they regularly invested their profits back into the organic societies.

They also were the most important benefactor of all charity organizations in the galaxy.

The _third foundation_ was that the geth largely kept to themselves. They almost never voiced their opinion on controversial matters.

They also declared permanent neutrality in any future organic wars unless an entire galaxy was threatened.

As a result, nobody felt threatened by the geth in any way and most people loved them.

* * *

The air lock opened and two figures emerged – one a geth platform and the other…

"Tali!" Shepard exclaimed with broad smile as she saw her old friend again.

"Shepard, Liara…" the quarian smiled back, now without the suit and helmet that she suffered in for most of her life.

That made her smile seem even more beautiful.

"You didn't think I'd miss the opportunity to see you, did you?"

"Welcome back, Tali'Zorah _vas Normandy_ " Liara told her as Tali hugged with Shepard and her.

The geth standing next to them flapped its head wings and their attention shifted to it.

"This is my colleague from the geth collective…" she introduced the machine. "His name is, eh… _**Chiktikka**_ "

"Jane Shepard-spectre, Liara T'Soni-broker" it acknowledged them in the usual way.

Afterwards, the geth pretty much glued to Shepard. That left Liara and Tali further back as the four of them walked into the ship.

"Chiktikka?" Liara whispered to Tali with a smile.

The quarian was flushed with embarrassment.

"One day, it wanted me to give it a name and that's the only one I could think of!" she complained, but with a barely contained laughter.

When they arrived at the former war room, now called tactical center, the geth assumed position at one of the consoles.

That left Shepard, Tali, and Liara free to talk for while.

"I'm sorry that Garrus could not make it" Tali said apologetically. "He would have loved to see you"

Her husband was visiting Palaven at the moment along with their turian daughter and quarian son. That left Tali with some spare time.

"When Chiktikka told me you were coming here, I just had to see you" she admitted. "It has been a long time…"

The three friends continued to talk until Normandy came into orbit over the dig site.

* * *

Javik finally emerged from his cargo bay only when they were about leave.

He mumbled a greeting to Tali and sent few threatening looks in Chiktikka's direction before joining everyone in the shuttle.

"Take us out" Shepard commanded the pilot.

They flew out of the cargo bay and the planet below came into view – a frozen barren wasteland. Much like Pluto.

Nobody would expect to find any kind of life down there, but Shepard supposed that that was the point.

The structures of the prothean supply depot were carved directly into the rock, similarly to the ruins on Therum. Over 300 years ago, the quarians were exploring the ruins but they had to abandon the project when the Morning war started.

Eventually, the entire cluster of space fell to geth.

In the following centuries, the status of the prothean ruins in Michrah system was unknown and largely forgotten.

Many also believed that the geth destroyed the ruins to erase signs of organic civilization. But in reality, they actually sealed them, ensuring their continuing preservation…

The shuttle touched down at one of the landing platforms and five figures emerged from it.

The geth already repressurized the inner sections, but the docking area had no atmosphere. As a result, Liara, Tali, Shepard and Javik were in full body suits. Chiktikka had nothing.

The first sight Shepard saw of the facility reminded her of beehive – numerous geth platforms were moving about in seemingly chaotic patter.

In reality, they worked in perfect concert to restore the facility to working condition.

"Rrr. What the hell are the machines doing here!" Javik growled when he saw them.

His strong hatred of artificial intelligence did not ebb with the defeat of the reapers.

Chiktikka looked at him with curiosity. "Per Shepard-spectre's instruction, we are helping to restore the life support and structural integrity, _Javik-prothean_ "

"Keep your help. We don't need it" he hissed. "This facility belongs to my people"

Shepard turned her head in exasperation. "Restoring this place would take years without their help… not to mention all the _legal issues_ if we officially report this to the Council"

"So should we do it your way and spend years in court? Or do we go right ahead?"

Javik glared at her but he backed down. He already had his experiences with the Citadel's judicial system.

A decade ago, he petitioned the Supreme Court to put a stop to all exploration of prothean ruins around the galaxy.

He claimed that as a last prothean, all that was left of the empire belonged to him.

Needless to say that his petition was dismissed and the status quo confirmed – all artifacts from the past cycles belonged to the people of the galaxy…

As they walked deeper into the facility, Chiktikka described to them the various places they were seeing.

Liara was slightly disappointed to find mostly empty halls and hallways. Thanks to vacuum and zero seismic activity, the structure itself was remarkably intact.

But it was stripped clean.

There was nothing beyond a little rubble and few broken empty containers.

But the quarians did not have enough time to take out anything.

Therefore, Liara gathered two things from the sight: Someone left the place in hurry _**and**_ they had no intention of ever coming back.

However, the greatest shock came at the end of the tour.

"The geth believe that this cavern was created later than the rest of the facility, Shepard-spectre" Chiktikka told them.

"Goddess…" Liara uttered. They were standing on a gallery that overlooked a large chamber. In its walls were thousands of alcoves in size of a small _"rooms"_. It had a utilitarian look of prison cells, but Liara suspected that their purpose was different.

"This is unexpected… but unsurprising" Javik told them after his four eyes scanned the vast area.

"During our war with the machines, tens of thousands of places like this were built… a refuge for civilians, each holding no more than half a million people"

"We spread our civilians as thin as possible, delaying the reapers in their harvest, but in the end… it was not enough" he concluded.

"We estimate that this facility could support approximately 531 671 individuals" Chiktikka tried to be helpful only to annoy Javik even more.

The chamber was already pressurized and so they took of their helmets.

"I think we have the work cut out for us…" Shepard said as she took a deep breath and surveyed the enormity of the area.

"Just look for anything that might explain what happened here…"

* * *

It took them long time to find something noteworthy. Even with the geth flagging specific locations for them and Shepard bringing more hands from the Normandy.

The computer system of the facility revealed only empty databanks.

However, it was confirmed that they were erased by the same kind of virus as the one that was remotely sent into the Archives on Thessia.

Most likely, made by the same programmer.

Still, it did not bring them any closer to solving the mystery.

They examined room after room.

Some of them contained personal items, indicating that they served as living space for people, but nothing beyond that. Nothing to tell them what happened.

Their fortune finally changed when they began to explore the lower levels of the chamber…

* * *

Liara and Javik were checking that particular area.

"This was a pointless waste of time!" Javik complained after he fumbled the walls with his bare hands for hours.

The entire time, he was trying to pick some information with his touch ability, but without successes. It seemed that any traces left behind in that way decayed long ago.

"Were all protheans this impatient or just you?" Liara shot back at him in annoyance.

Javik made some incoherent reply before moving on to the next room.

Liara was about to follow him but then she saw something suspicious on her omni-tool.

She lacked the prothean touch ability. Instead, she was taking omni-tool scans of everything they saw so far.

"Javik, wait!" she called him back to the hallway. The last prothean peeked out of the room he previously disappeared into.

"I am detecting traces of eezo on this rock face…" she said as she scanned wall between the two rooms they just passed.

Javik touched the indicated spots with his hands for a moment.

"I can sense nothing…" he said before turning and glancing at the readings on Liara's omni-tool.

"And such low values are meaningless… any slightly leaky mass effect device would produce such trace" he said.

In principle, he was correct. In all likelihood, some ancient prothean who lived here had a faulty toaster oven.

Still, something did not sit well with Liara. She has seen these kinds of readings before…

She focused her eyes on the wall.

" _Could it, be…?"_ she wondered as she walked towards the wall and put her own hand on it.

"What are you doing?" Javik asked in confusion.

Liara ignored him as she fired up her biotics, enveloping her hand in a biotic field…

It was as if the entire wall caught fire from her hand!

Spreading cobwebs of light erupted from the point where she touched the wall until its entire surface was covered with _**images**_ and glowing eerily.

Javik took a step back with an open mouth. For the first time in this cycle, he was genuinely puzzled by what he was seeing.

"That's…" he stuttered as Liara turned to face him with a broad smile.

"During our prehistory, my people sometimes used a special dye with trace amounts of eezo… it would only light up when exposed to biotics" she explained.

"You are seeing _**asari cave paintings**_ …"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I want to thank everyone who followed, favorited and especially reviewed this story so far. You are a true motivation! :-)**

* * *

 **The fifth planet of the Michrah system, 2214 CE**

Liara was ecstatic.

After verifying the age of the paintings, Javik's theory was proven to be true.

Her people were once really here! They lived and walked in these halls! Tens of thousands of years before her ancestors on Thessia even _considered_ the possibility of space flight.

The known history of the asari people was forever changed with this discovery…

As for Javik, he was in interesting situation. He always spoke derogatorily about Liara's ' _primitive_ ' ancestors…

But after completely exploring the facility, it was clear that the protheans were very careful in leaving no traces behind.

Javik's only hope now was that the _'_ primitive asari' were not that meticulous.

They found several paintings in the hallways and some of the rooms and were in the process of studying them.

Curiously, the geth explorers failed to notice the paintings before. They _did_ pick up the traces of eezo, but like Javik they've written it off as unimportant.

Despite their initial blunder, Chiktikka was now assisting in the study of the paintings. The geth would provide real time connection with the asari historical database on Thessia. This allowed Liara to cross reference their findings with known facts.

After a day of study, she had a definite prove that the paintings were asari.

Aside from the dye used, there were too many similarities with known cave paintings on Thessia from the same era.

Some of the images were completely identical to those that could be seen in the Temple in Armali – namely, the image of goddess Athame and her meeting with the asari people.

Some were unique. From what Liara could gather, they represented the history of the asari after leaving Thessia.

At one point, the motives became darker. One particular image had an unmistakable profile of a _**reaper**_. It had a fiery aura and the eezo glow gave it a diabolical impression.

Liara supposed that her people must have been utterly terrified of the machines.

Not only because of what the reapers were, but because suddenly, their gods and goddesses were powerless to protect them. That must have been the point where the asari and their prothean handlers abandoned their original planet…

The paintings were amazing and Liara would have loved to spend a long time studying them. But as far as she could see, there were no references to where the protheans were going to take them next.

A terrifying prospect was (that Javik endorsed) that they simply abandoned the asari to their fate and left.

Their bodies would have been preserved by the vacuum and they did not find any. So hopefully, Javik's morbid theory was untrue.

In the end, it was Tali who solved the mystery.

The quarian was scanning some of the less preserved parts of the paintings. She was trying to use digital enhancement methods to make them clearer.

As she was scanning a part of the wall near the floor, she called to the others.

"Liara… all of you" she added. "Take a look at this" she said, pointing at the painting.

Liara, Shepard, Javik and the geth came over, surrounding the crouching quarian. Liara joined Tali on the floor as she looked the painting over.

"Compared to the rest of wall, this is very crude work" she observed. "Almost like a child made it"

She supposed that given its position near the floor, it was very possible.

"What do you think about this part" Tali specified one area.

Liara looked where indicated. There was a large brightly glowing circle in the middle. It was surrounded by smaller, dimmer circles.

The circle farthest from the center was different. A red rectangle surrounded it.

"Five circles surrounding a big one, the last one the most important… sounds familiar?" Tali said and smiled.

Liara was puzzled for a moment before it abruptly came to her.

"This solar system! And the planet we are on!"

"Liara, did your people paint star maps like this? Shepard asked her.

Liara shook her head. "Until now, I didn't know they painted _any_ maps back then"

"This might be more than primitive doodle" Javik suddenly spoke in thoughtful voice.

"Notice the red rectangle around this _'planet'_?" he point out. "We used to have such representation on our tactical computers"

"One of the primitives might have seen it on display somewhere" he suggested.

Liara did not like his attitude at all, but he was probably correct. The entire drawing appeared to be a work of an inquisitive asari child who happened to have seen something she wasn't supposed to.

Liara was not certain how much the asari were uplifted at this point, but it could not have been much. So after the girl saw a console with beautifully colored image magically floating in air… of course she was going to draw it!

"Well, if this is the image of this star system, then what is this?" Tali asked and pointed at a drawing directly next to it.

It was even more decayed then the first and Tali had to use her magic to make it visible.

In few moments, she used her omni-tool to project an enhanced image over the existing one on the wall.

At first Liara, thought that it was some kind of flower. There was a circle with five arches coming out if it.

"Citadel…" Javik said.

" _So not a flower… still, it might as well been a flower in the child's eyes"_

There were small blue dots painted around it. One of them was more prominent and there was some unreadable symbol scribbled next to it.

"Can you enhance it some more?" Liara asked and Tali nodded.

The symbol became clearer and Liara gasped as she saw it.

"Hah!" Javik exclaimed.

"What is it? What does it mean?" Shepard asked them both in concern.

Liara looked between Javik and her friends, before they answered in unison.

" _ **Elerise"**_

* * *

Back on the Normandy, they had a computer generated projection of the drawing displayed in the tactical room.

"So the dots around the Citadel…?" Shepard asked.

"Mass relays of the Serpent Nebula" Tali confirmed.

As a hub of the relay network, dozens of mass relays were positioned in the vicinity of the Citadel.

This system was scrambled when the Citadel was briefly moved to Earth by the reapers. But fortunately, the alliance scientist figured out how to return the station back into the Serpent Nebula.

As Shepard looked at the image, she suddenly realized that the Nebula was vaguely shaped like reaper. She never saw that before…

"So Elerise is supposed to be beyond that relay?" Shepard asked, pointing at the highlighted region of the map.

"Which one is it?"

Liara looked uncertain as she answered. "As far as we can trust the drawings, yes"

"The only problem is…" Tali took word. "The relay is not there!"

"What do you mean?" Shepard asked.

"Chiktikka and I calculated the identity of all the other dots… I mean relays" she explained.

"The drawing was by no means accurate, of course… you are seeing a corrected version of it" Tali explained.

"See, this one leads to Arcturus, this one to Thessia, this one to Palaven…" Tali showed them.

"But the one that is supposed to lead to Elerise is not on any map… as far as we know, it _does not exist_ "

"Are you sure?"

Tali smirked. "Please… I am a quarian, Shepard"

"I have memorized the list of all galactic mass relays by the time I was six"

Shepard chuckled. "Sorry, bad question"

"The drawing could very well be wrong…" Liara speculated.

"Unlikely…" Javik disagreed. "The asari symbol for _Elerise_ … it was the symbol of the prothean colony as well"

"Whoever wrote it must have seen it displayed somewhere along with the map of the Nebula"

"But the relay… it's simply not there" Tali told him. "And we have mapped all relays in the Serpent Nebula… _all 37 of them_ "

"The geth have no additional data available" Chiktikka confirmed.

"There are actually 38 of them…" Javik said smugly to both Tali and the machine.

"What?!" Tali looked at him in disbelief.

"Yes…" Javik droned in smug voice. "After the war, I noticed that your cycle missed one… _amusing_ "

Everyone stared at him in shock.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us about this before?!" Shepard asked.

Javik shrugged. "Why should I?"

More shock.

"Well, hard to argue with _**that**_ logic" Tali said as she facepalmed. Shepard shared a tired look with Liara.

"Well do you mind telling us about it now?" the human spectre asked him.

"Certainly" the prothean nodded. "Here are its precise coordinates… if I remember correctly" Javik said as he entered the numbers into the computer.

The dot on the displayed image shifted its position slightly in response.

"What's on the other side? Did protheans explore it?" Tali asked.

She still could not believe that a relay would be overlooked right in the heart of the citadel space.

"Yes, by probes. We detected a possible garden world on the other side. We did not colonize though because of the star system's location" Javik explained.

At Shepard's raised eyebrow, he told them.

"It's in the galactic core"

"I thought that there were only black holes in the core…" Shepard said, thinking about her experiences with collectors.

"Incorrect, Shepard-spectre" Chiktikka spoke. "The faster-than-light travel _between_ individual systems is highly dangerous in the core. But theoretically, there could be millions of habitable systems"

"There is just no way for us to reach them… not without a mass relay in each one" Tali added.

"Indeed" Javik continued. "Because of this, my people considered the galactic core as a possible fallback option to survive the reapers"

"So you would just disable the mass relay on the other side and be free of them forever" Liara deduced.

"Yes. However, this system was out of question" Javik pointed at the screen.

"Reaching it would require bypassing hundreds of reaper capital ships positioned around the Citadel… it was impossible"

"Instead, we chose a relay in the _Sahrabarik_ system… the system beyond the relay was far from hospitable, but it was our only option"

"The Omega-4 relay…" Shepard said breathlessly. "That was you?"

She always thought that the reapers colonized the system beyond the Omega-4 relay.

"Yes. We built a large space station and placed several millions of our people in stasis within it" Javik continued his narration.

"How did they get to you?" Shepard wondered. "Didn't you disable the relay?"

Javik looked down as he suppressed emotions.

"We _thought_ that we did, but somehow, the reapers have overridden our measures" Javik scowled.

"They did something to the Omega-4 relay so that it would _**always**_ connect to its destination and could not be shutdown…"

"We didn't know how exactly they did it, only that the relay was glowing red ever since"

"The reapers poured through…"

"Goddess…" Liara cursed.

Javik ignored her as he continued. "To mock our attempts at survival, they turned our space station into their breeding facility"

"The protheans who were in stasis were melted down into a reaper shell or turned into these… _**things**_ , you fought" he said to Shepard.

"After that, we realized that there was no place for us to _hide_ from them"

"A dozen scientists on Ilos and me… that's all that was left" he finished, leaving everyone in a depressed mood. Despite how Javik was at times, Liara felt more sorry for him than ever.

"We'll go there…" she said, pointing at the display. "Perhaps _they_ succeeded with their plan"

"Impossible. There is no way how they could have pushed through the reaper blockade in the Serpent Nebula" he said with resignation.

"Even with the entire imperial fleet it could not be done"

"It is clear to me now that their _plan_ was nothing more than a foolish act of desperation"

Shepard turned her head. "Long time ago, someone told me something similar about the Crucible…" she smiled.

"You give up to easily, Javik. The way they covered their tracks? It doesn't seem like an act of desperation to me… they _knew_ what they were doing and why"

"What if… just what if?"

It did not seem possible to break through Javik's gloomy mood, but that did it.

"Perhaps… we shall see" he admitted and they nodded at each other.

With no more things to discuss, Shepard gave the order.

"Joker… take us to the Citadel immediately"

* * *

 **Serpent Nebula**

Based on Javik's information, they located the mass relay.

As expected, it was hidden deep inside clouds of the Serpent Nebula. Its position would deter all but the most thorough explorers. Only knowing what to look for was Normandy able to find it at all. Still, it took them three days of searching.

"It's not active…" Tali noted as they examined the image of the relay on the ship's displays.

Another reason why nobody found it before. An inactive relay is a cold object in space – impossible to locate unless one knows what to look for. Twice impossible if the object is obscured in dense cloud of gas.

This sometimes creates problems for emerging civilizations. To conserve power, the relays are programmed to shutdown automatically if not used for long periods of time.

In the solar system, nobody would figure to look for a relay inside Pluto's moon. Not unless they have read about it in the prothean archives on Mars…

As Shepard looked at the dead relay, she felt a chill. All life in the galaxy depended on the mass relays in one way or the other. To see its great rings unmoving and dead in space was unnerving at best.

"Prepare for relay activation procedure…" she ordered her crew.

"Ay-ay… _spectre_ " Tali formally acknowledged the order.

She and Chiktikka began to input the instructions into the computer. The relay activation was complex procedure.

Liara, who was so far observing the situation in silence, came to her bondmate and held her hand.

"You realize that technically, activating this relay is in violation of Citadel conventions?" she quietly whispered.

Shepard smiled. "Spectre authority…" she whispered back and Liara nodded.

As a spectre, she could violate most of the Citadel laws if she deemed it necessary for the safety of the galaxy. And in this case… she did.

Likewise her crew would be immune to any charges when following such orders.

Everybody knew it and that was the reason that Tali acknowledged her orders as coming from a citadel spectre.

This virtual impunity made the spectres very unpopular with some people, but Shepard believed that it was sometimes necessary.

In this case, activating a new mass relay would be subject to a lengthy debate by the council. All of the citadel worlds would give their opinion on the matter. The arguments debated over and over. The final decisions reached in many years, if ever.

As a spectre, she could simply _give the order_ and save everyone the trouble. But of course, encountering something like the _Rachni_ on the other side was the ever present risk…

The entire ship shook as the procedure began. As an engineer, Shepard was fully able to appreciate the complexity of the relay activation.

All the mass relays were _quantum-locked._ This property placed them outside of normal space and time, making it extremely hard to interact with their mechanism.

It served a dual purpose of ensuring that no one would mess with the relay's inner mechanism. And also, that no one would discover its secrets before it was too late.

To get around the quantum lock, the Normandy was currently generating a mass effect field around and inside the relay of precise frequency.

A simple sequence of first 7 prime numbers was a signal for its activation.

Evidently, the reapers wanted to ensure that the species activating the relays would be at least semi-intelligent… and therefore fit for harvest.

Afterwards, more simple mathematical sequences were used to control the relay's normal operation.

After several minutes, Shepard saw as the rings began to spin and brilliant blue exploded between them. The relay was active.

"Make a complete diagnostic…"

"Already on it" Tali and the geth responded in unison.

Shepard nodded. She and Liara watched the relay spinning, looking for any signs of malfunction. Javik was eyeing the moving superstructure with suspicion as well.

While the relays were the most durable objects in universe (chiefly thanks to their quantum locking), caution was justified.

It reminded Shepard of a very uncomfortable council meeting shortly after the reaper war. They were discussing what to do with the mass relay network now that its creators and guardians were gone forever.

The relays were durable, but there was evidence that the reapers used to perform maintenance on the active relays at the end of each cycle.

With the reapers gone, this responsibility would now lie solely on the organics of the galaxy. Since then, great strides were made towards understanding the relay technology.

Everyone saw what happened in the Bahak system. What the relays were capable of. Fortunately, outside of smashing a planet into them, they were very safely made.

There were _**tens of**_ _ **thousands**_ of safeguards to ensure that no catastrophic overload could ever occur. Even in cases of extreme negligence or sabotage.

The reapers were extremely careful in that way. Apparently, relays blowing up and destroying the star system was in direct contradiction to their idiotic programming.

For instance, Shepard could remember Harbinger sounding genuinely _horrified_ when she decided to blow up the relay in the Bahak system.

Therefore, at any malfunction, the relays were programmed to safely shutdown and broadcast a repair request to the Citadel – the hub of the network. The reapers would then repair them during the next harvest.

"The relay reads… all normal" Tali reported after working on her console. "The destination relay is… online. Handshake exchanged… normal operation reported."

Tali continued going on through the usual report. Shepard listened quietly before she heard the critical piece of information.

"… galactic core destination... confirmed"

Javik joined them at the display.

"As I have told you, Shepard… it is in the core, but safe" he impatiently growled.

Shepard frowned. The system might be a sea of tranquility in a death trap that is the galactic core… but she was not going to take any chances.

She tapped her ear bud.

"Joker… I want you to activate the reaper IFF"

"That is not necessary, commander!" Javik protested but Shepard raised a hand to cut him off.

"Do it, Joker!"

The reaper IFF worked by activating advanced navigation protocols in the mass relays.

Normally, the origin relay would contact the destination relay and request safe-zone coordinates for the traveler.

After receiving them, the traveler's ship would be transported to that coordinates.

However, everything in space was in constant motion. Therefore, the destination coordinates would be obsolete after the few seconds it took the relay to carry out the transport order.

In practice, this was known as _**drift**_. It regularly resulted into enormous deviations from the ship's intended exit point.

The reaper IFF modified this behavior. It caused the relay to correct the ship's destination coordinates _on the fly_ , even during the transition itself. This ensured that the ship would arrive _exactly_ where it was meant to. With no drift.

It gave the reapers a tactical advantage, but it also served to save the power source inside the relay. Real-time correction of the ship's destination coordinates required over one thousand times more energy than the regular transport protocol…

" _Understood, ma'am… activating the IFF in three, two, one…"_ Joker's voice sounded back over the intercom. _"Overload in all systems… rerouting."_

The Normandy shook again. Liara and Javik looked terrified, but Shepard and Tali were calm. The geth was emotionless as usual.

"Relax… that's normal" she calmed her bondmate. "Happened the last time too…"

Liara raised her eyebrow. "The collector mission?" she asked and Shepard nodded.

"I am so sorry…" Liara said sadly.

Shepard knew what she meant.

 _Sorry for not going with you._

Even decades after the war, Liara still blamed herself for not joining Shepard during her hunt for the collectors. Even after Shepard showed her that her not being there actually helped her.

When going through the Omega-4 relay, she knew there was a chance that all of them were going to die. But she comforted herself with the thought that _Liara_ was safe. That at least _Liara_ was going to live.

Right now, there was not much she could do to make her bondmate feel better. She simply held her hand and gave her a reassuring smile.

" _The IFF is online and everything is green…"_ Joker reported and Shepard nodded.

"Let's roll!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Unknown regions, galactic core**

Shepard, Liara and Javik walked into the cockpit to firsthand observe the relay transit.

Tali and Chiktikka stayed behind in the tactical center to monitor the progress on their consoles.

The Normandy jolted in a familiar way as the relay hurled it half way across the galaxy, towards the next mass relay.

"Here we are…" Joker announced when they arrived to their destination.

Using the pilot's window, everyone began to explore their new surroundings.

There was no immediate danger visible. No debris field, black holes or exploding suns…

If not for slightly denser clusters of stars visible, Shepard would not even tell they were inside the galactic core.

The star system looked normal and was incomparable with the hellish environment beyond the Omega 4 relay.

Shepard was about to comment on that when Joker gasped at his sensor readings.

"Wow…"

"What is it?" she asked.

"Take a look at this..." he told them as he maneuvered Normandy into facing the mass relay.

It was their turn to gasp.

Its surface was scorched black, one of the relay's sides was blasted off and the rings were flickering erratically.

The relay was still working, but it was obviously _heavily_ damaged on this side…

"Tali, are you seeing what we are?"

" _Yes, Shepard"_ the quarian engineer nervously responded from her station over the intercom.

"What happened? Isn't the diagnostic supposed to detect things like this?! I thought it reported normal operations!"

" _It did… and it still is. The diagnostic protocols must be corrupted"_

Shepard cursed. "That's just great… can we use it to get back?" she asked.

" _I think so… yes"_

"Then we should head back immediately… while it is still working"

Her companions fidgeted at her words.

"We'll leave probes behind, but we cannot risk the relay collapsing. We'd be stuck here" she explained her decision, earning nod from Liara and grunt from Javik.

They were both looking forward to this.

However, even they did not relish the thought of being trapped in this system forever. It was killing them to have to just walk away from this, but there was no other way.

"We may have another option" Joker suddenly reported. "According to sensors… this relay has been like this for millennia! Our arrival did not change it at all"

Shepard was about to protest to that logic, but Tali interrupted her.

" _He's right, Shepard. If it didn't blow up so far I don't think it will… hmm, curious."_

"What now?"

" _Just that it is a good thing you insisted on using the IFF… I think this relay is no longer save for normal transit protocols"_

"My god… the relay is giving a nonsensical output on the normal mode. We would have been torn apart!" Joker seconded her as he read his own displays.

Earlier, Javik said the IFF was unnecessary. Had they followed his suggestion, they would be dead now. He made an annoyed grunt at being proven wrong again, but Shepard ignored him.

"All right… are you absolutely certain that we can use it to get back at any time?"

" _Absolutely… the advanced transit protocols are still working fine"_ Tali reported.

Shepard shared a look with Liara. She could tell that her bondmate was scared. But at the same time, she had that eager expression. The one she got every time there was something remotely prothean or archeological within her grasp.

"Very well, then" Shepard decided. She reasoned that if the danger was not imminent, they could still fulfill their mission.

She also wanted Tali and Chiktikka to study the relay's condition more carefully before attempting another jump through it.

"We'll explore this system. However, I want a probe deployed here to monitor the relay. The minute the readings change _in anyway_ , I want you to hightail it straight out of here… is that clear?" she told Joker.

"Yes, ma'am… probe deployed" Joker responded after few seconds.

"Ok, then. Take us in and start scanning the system…"

* * *

Basic sensor sweep told them that there were six planets in the system orbiting an ordinary K type star, slightly yellower than the earth's Sun.

Two of the outermost planets were gas giants.

The first and second were Mercury sized dwarfs. The fourth planet was like Mars – habitable, but too far away from its star to develop biosphere.

However, the third planet was in the ideal habitable zone… and a fully developed garden world!

After completing the basic survey of the other planets, the Normandy jumped straight there…

Ever since coming to the system, the Normandy has been continuously broadcasting set of messages.

The messages included the proclamation of Normandy's peaceful intentions and the basic information about the council space.

They also broadcasted the announcement about reaper's defeat, including videos of dead reapers.

Shepard and others figured that if the survivors were still alive, this would be the first thing they would like to hear.

The data was transmitted in digital format that was used by protheans 50 000 years ago.

Hopefully, the recipients would still be able to understand it.

To that end, all messages were translated by Javik and Liara and sent out in two different languages – prothean and ancient asari.

However, despite their best efforts, they received no response so far. Likewise, they encountered no signs of intelligent life anywhere in the system.

However, this changed when the ship arrived to the third planet…

There was a definitive sign of intelligent life right there, in geosynchronous orbit… and it was a big one.

" _Keelah…"_ Tali whispered over the intercom.

Shepard had similar thoughts as she looked at the enormous, albeit terribly damaged structure hanging over the planet.

It was constructed differently than their version, but the design was similar enough that everyone immediately recognized it for what it was.

Especially Shepard, who nearly lost her life while trying to activate it.

 _ **The Crucible.**_

Or rather what was left of it...

Their own version of Crucible super weapon was kept on stand-by after the war.

The council wanted it to be ready for another use in case not all of the reapers were destroyed. But fortunately, no reaper survivors were discovered so far.

Under heavy guard, the Crucible was slowly collecting dust while floating around the solar system…

On the other hand, whoever built _**this Crucible**_ clearly did not have the same luck using it as Shepard did.

There were indications of massive internal explosion visible all over its hull. The main spherical part was nearly torn in half with the internal mechanism exposed.

Its insides were burned and fused together into a single metallic slug.

Seeing the massive devastation before her, Shepard was unsurprised when no signs of habitation were reported on the garden world below.

"Scan the Crucible and the planet. I want a complete report as soon as possible" she ordered her people.

She glanced over at Liara, but the asari was already immersed in the sensory readings. What happened here was a great mystery.

Since Liara dedicated much of her adult life towards discovering secrets of the past, she was positively ecstatic at the prospect of studying this.

Shepard decided to let them work and walked out of the cockpit. On her way out, she grabbed Javik and pulled him along with her. The last prothean probably meant well, but his constant questions and suggestions were not helping anyone to concentrate…

As she walked, Shepard already began to formulate a theory about what happened here.

Blasted Crucible _and_ blasted mass relay were definitely not a coincidence.

But she needed hard facts, not wild theories.

* * *

 **Later**

"All right, people… let's hear it" Shepard called the conference room to order.

Liara and Tali were standing near the table with mountains of datapads in front of them.

The geth did not need them, but he was definitely 'excited' as his head plates kept flipping about, indicating intensive thought process was taking place.

Javik was leaning against the wall with his hands folded on his chest, looking impatient.

"First of all… the Crucible" she told them.

Tali took the stage at this point. She turned on a big display, showing the image of the crucible. She spoke as she read from her datapad.

"We can confirm that it is very similar to our own version of the device" she began.

"Clearly built for the same purpose and with the same goals in mind"

"Who built it?"

Tali looked uncertain for a moment before answering. "Difficult to know. But I would say that the protheans are the safe bet…" she announced.

Javik barely breathed at that.

"The Crucible schematics are amalgamated from several past cycles, however... this version has a design and construction methods consistent with known prothean technology"

Shepard nodded and looked at Javik.

"So your people did manage to build it after all…" she said to the last prothean.

"For whatever good it did them…" Javik mumbled back in gloomy voice.

Liara who was so far quiet was now ready to burst.

"Shepard, there is more! According to our analyses, this Crucible was fired approximately 48 500 years ago!" she quickly told them.

"That's 1500 years after the reapers supposedly killed the last prothean!"

Liara and Tali continued their presentation, showing them a detailed theory on what probably happened.

As it turned out, Javik was right all along.

Some of his people did manage to survive the reaper harvest… for another millennium and half.

They hid and isolated themselves in this system, safely away from the enemy's sensors.

There, they constructed the Crucible and tried to use it to destroy the reapers.

Shepard did not understand why they waited for so long, but Chiktikka had an explanation.

"The Crucible weapon is incredibly complicated machinery. Many rare elements required"

"If isolated to single star system, an extremely long construction period is a logical outcome…" the geth droned in his robotic voice.

Shepard was actually amazed that they even had a will to finish it at all. Working on the same project for more than a millennium was remarkable.

The society had to keep the same priorities, generation after generation…

She was not sure any contemporary organic race could do it.

But then again, the protheans were driven from a galaxy wide empire of trillions into a single star system. Something like this is not easily forgotten, even in 1000 years.

Unfortunately, the prothean's final effort was terribly unsuccessful. The day they activated the Crucible was the day their species died out.

Tali explained that part.

She confirmed that the mass relay damage was a direct result of the Crucible activation.

She was not certain whether the weapon could even reach the reapers while hiding in dark space.

Regardless, without the Citadel station to control the energy flow, the Crucible's energy never went beyond this star system.

Instead, it uncontrollably smashed into the mass relay and damaged it.

However, the worst part was that it had lethal influence on the planet below it.

Immediately named as _**Elerise**_ , the Normandy's sensors found ruins of technologically advanced city on its surface. Definitely prothean in origin.

When the Crucible was fired, the energy wave caused fatal release of radiation that irradiated the planet and the surrounding area.

It was practically decayed by now, but must have been deadly back then. ,

Even if the protheans survived the initial blast, they could not survive resulting radiation sickness.

The Elerise was a rich garden world, but there were no signs of habitation on its surface younger than 48 500 years.

The prothean civilization survived 1500 more years than anyone thought, but in the end, it was still gone.

Everyone handled that information in their own way.

Shepard was impressed with their will to live and their unyieldingness.

They defied the genocidal machines and almost destroyed them for good.

And although their plan ultimately backfired on them, they went down fighting.

She saluted their courage.

Tali was focusing on studying the Crucible wreckage which was now officially the largest piece of prothean technology ever to be found.

She seemingly handled herself well, but it was clear what happened here affected her.

In many ways, the fate of protheans was similar to quarians. They were both driven from their home and their species reduced to almost nothing.

Their ancient civilizations just one disaster away from extinction.

She would be thanking ancestors tonight for keeping her people safe during their long exile.

While Liara no longer had any illusions about the people she once adored, Shepard knew that their fate was not indifferent to her.

No longer glorifying them as uniform saints, Liara instead focused on the individuality of the protheans.

Some of them were bad and some of them were good. But it was safe to say that all of them deserved better than this and Liara would honor their memory by telling their story to the galaxy.

Chiktikka did not show any reaction beyond the clinical curiosity that the geth sometimes had about organic behavior.

The only enigma in the room was Javik. The last prothean was now truly last.

His expression was unreadable as he studied the satellite images of the ruined city on Eleryse.

They all tried to cheer him up. This mission was his idea and even though it did not end the way he hoped, it was still going to rewrite the history books.

"I want to go down there…" he suddenly said, looking up from the datapads.

"I want to go into the city… I need to tell them the reapers are gone. That we've won"

"Javik… they're gone" Shepard said carefully.

"Then I will tell it to their bones!" he snapped at her and started pacing across the room. "Please…" he added after a while.

Shepard looked at him in astonishment.

He rarely pleaded.

"Ok, let's assemble a team and…"

"No! I have to go alone!" he protested.

According to his beliefs, the planet was now a burial ground for his people. No non-prothean was allowed to enter it.

"I can't let you go alone…"

"Indeed… I will go with him" Liara suddenly stepped forward.

Javik protested again, but Liara shut him up. "Have you forgotten, Javik?" she asked strongly.

"My people may have lived down there too… I have the right to honor their memory as much as you do!"

The prothean reluctantly nodded.

* * *

Liara winced as she felt a touch of cold metal on her neck and then a sting.

"There… this inoculation will protect you against the residual radiation for a while, doctor T'Soni" doctor Michel said.

"Combined with your armor, you should be absolutely fine"

"Thank you, doctor"

Dr. Michel nodded and moved over to her other patient who was already staring at her impatiently.

Shepard stood in the infirmary and was observing the proceedings.

Shortly after the reaper war, Dr. Chakwas finally decided to put her action days behind and settle down.

These days, she worked as a chief medical officer of alliance medical academy, preparing new generation of medical personnel for military service.

As her replacement, she recommended her friend and colleague who jumped at a chance to serve on the flagship of the Citadel Council.

Shepard missed her old friend, but so far, Dr. Michel worked to her full satisfaction.

"Are you ready?" Shepard silently asked her bondmate while the doctor began working on Javik.

"To see the ruins of the last prothean city? Ready" Liara said and smiled.

"For the company on the shuttle ride? Not really" she joked.

Even after writing a bestseller book together, Liara and Javik could not be called friends.

The last prothean was too arrogant and still considered asari as primitives.

It was hard to be friends with someone who saw you as inferior and would regularly tell you so.

Shepard smiled weakly in response before she held her bondmate's hands in her own. "Liara… please be careful down there" she urged her in serious voice.

After Liara gave her a solemn nod, Shepard tried to lighten up the mood. "Try to stay away from any stasis bubbles…"

They both laughed at that before Liara pulled her in for a kiss.

Even after decades of relationship she could hardly pull herself away from her bondmate in moments like this.

That's why she was more than annoyed when she heard Javik coughing for attention.

The doctor finished his inoculation and he was now looking at Shepard and Liara.

"Can we get back to work?" he asked impatiently. "Or do you wish to finish your mating ritual first, commander?"

Shepard just grinned at his remark as they let go of each other.

The first time Javik learned about her relationship with Liara was during the reaper war.

Back then, he casually informed her that mating with asari was pointless as one was not propagating their own genes.

In response, she informed him that he could go fuck himself. It was a good day.

With that memory on her thoughts, they all walked out of the infirmary as Liara and Javik went to suit up in their armors.


	5. Chapter 5

**Shuttle in orbit of Elerise**

Javik did not want anyone else coming with them. As a result, Liara was now piloting the shuttle towards the ruins of the prothean city.

Piloting was just one of the skills she picked up in the last two decades. When she graduated the University of Serrice, she naively thought she was going to spend the rest of her life as archeologist. Her plan was a century or two on dig sites and then get a teaching job on her Alma Mater. But now, she was an expert in fields she never even imagined – biotics, weapons, demolitions, electronics, intelligence gathering.

And all thanks to an impromptu encounter with the first human spectre… who also became her bondmate and father of her children.

It was not all thanks to Shepard's influence though. There were times where she was truly alone and still had to fight and learn – after the destruction of the first Normandy and during Shepard's imprisonment on Earth.

And however painful her time on Illium was, it forced her to really _grow up_. She changed so much in those two short years that when she met Shepard again, they nearly did not recognize each other anymore…

"Rrr, are we there yet, _asari_?" Javik growled from his seat, interrupting her reverie.

She rolled her eyes. "For the hundredth time, I have a name, Javik… and yes, we are just coming for a landing."

* * *

The city was in good condition despite being 48 500 years old. The protheans built their structures to last. In addition, the part of the city that Javik selected as their landing site was in excellent condition, minimizing any danger. Liara landed the shuttle in middle of large open plaza that, while dirty, was clear of any rubble.

They exited the shuttle and she saw the city for the first time with her own eyes. There were not many prothean ruins that well preserved in the wider galaxy. The only exceptions were the hardly accessible ruins of Feros and the Archives on Ilos. The rest was destroyed by looters or erased by elements long ago.

Remembering well the early lessons of her studies, Liara knew that the prothean artifacts were classified into 4 time periods from the oldest to youngest.

After discovery of this city, she knew that a _fifth_ period would have to be defined just for it.

The buildings were similar enough to the last known prothean styles of the fourth period, but the cultural gap was obvious in their architecture style.

The structures were stark. Gone was the extravagance and luxury associated with the peak of their empire. Reduced to a single star system, this city was prothean's last refuge. Functionality and resource conservation must have been their main concern.

According to Javik, the place they landed in was a communal center of the colony. The plaza was surrounded by slowly decaying public buildings. In distance, one could see few skyscrapers emerging from the otherwise homogenous urban landscape.

Located in an arid part of Elerise, the city was not overgrown with vegetation as the Archives on Ilos. The satellite images indicated that a river used to run through it, but it changed its direction eons ago, leaving the city dry and desert like.

Javik and she walked away from the shuttle in the direction of one of the more important looking buildings.

The last prothean kept looking around as if searching for the ghosts of his people. As for Liara, she had her omni-tool up and was taking pictures and video records of everything they encountered.

In the following years, there would be a rush to research this place. Javik is going to hate that, but that's just how it will be. Even now, there was still much people of this cycle could learn from the protheans. All Liara could do was try and document the city while it was still unspoiled…

Suddenly, both Liara and Javik jumped into battle stance as they heard a noise coming from a pile of rubble that they just walked by. Javik grunted in annoyance when he saw that it was merely a small rodent like creature that made its living there. He immediately resumed his walk, but Liara stopped him.

"Javik, wait!" she said, looking and pointing at the creature in excitement.

"What?"

"That creature. It's called _**Toluuka**_ ," she explained. "And it's from Thessia."

"Asari were really here…" she whispered in awe.

Javik was still not convinced. "Are you certain?" he said, looking at the creature with suspicion. It squeaked under his gaze and jumped back into the rubble.

"My people could have brought it with them… what does it do? Is it tasty?"

Liara smiled. "It does nothing really… it is neither useful nor tasty."

"But it is very cuddly and loyal when domesticated. Ancient asari used to keep it as a pet."

Liara supposed that it was possible the protheans brought _**Toluuka**_ as pets, but somehow she doubted it. The idea of Javik petting a purring animal on his lap did not sit right with her.

"Absolutely not! Wasting resources on useless animals was punishable by death within the empire," Javik responded when she suggested it.

Liara was glad when he said that because it meant that all of it had to be true… this planet was not only the last prothean colony but also the first asari colony.

* * *

 _ **Normandy**_

"There it is again…" Tali cursed under her breath.

Shepard ordered her to monitor the relay, but since there was absolutely no change in its status in the last five hours, she put it on automatics.

Meanwhile, she worked on focusing all of the ship's sensors on the planet below. There will be many follow-up surveys to be sure. The wreckage of the Crucible alone should keep citadel engineers busy for years to come. Still, the more data they'd bring back, the bigger the success of their mission.

Everything was going well… but then Tali spotted an almost invisible discrepancy in the received data. It was noticeable only after she did a detailed and focused survey of the planet's surface.

"The probability indicates that our readings are influenced by the galactic core or the residual energy from the Crucible, Tali'Zorah," the geth told her.

"I know, Chiktikka," she admitted. "But in worst case, it could also mean that we are receiving false or inaccurate data."

"The probability of such conclusion is less than 0.6 %."

"Call it organic paranoia, then."

The machine flapped its head plates at her in curiosity. "Geth are incapable of paranoia, Tali."

The quarian nodded. "And sometimes, I envy you," she whispered even as she ordered the computer to thoroughly analyze the readings.

* * *

Liara and Javik reached the large building.

"This was the imperial chamber…" he told her as he looked at it. "The seat of our government," he added to explain.

"How can you know that?" Liara questioned him. Javik was prothean, but even he was 1500 years out of time here.

"It is a crude copy of the Chamber on our original homeworld," he explained, pointing at the lines of the structure.

"It also proves that this is the last colony my people… they would rebuild it on this planet only if certain that everything else was lost to them."

Liara did not know what to say. She was about to tell him that she was sorry, but Javik already surged forward towards the building.

"Javik, wait! You can't go inside, it's too dangerous!" she warned him.

Even though they seemed stable enough, it could still be deadly frolicking through forty eight thousand years old buildings without repairs.

Fortunately, Javik did not go inside the building. Instead, he stopped near a large stone column that was positioned at its entrance.

"This is it… that is why I wanted to come to this place… before any alien primitives polluted it with their presence. I prayed that it would still be here… _**the Memorial**_ ," he said, looking worshipfully at the stone.

"It contains the history of my people. I… we can learn what truly happened here," he told her while tracing the column with his hand.

Liara scanned the column with her omni-tool only to find nothing. The column was made out of smooth stone and contained no visible writing. Liara was confused. She was about to ask him what he meant when she realized.

"Your ability… you can read it like you did with your room on Normandy,"

The prothean nodded. "Yes. Since ancient times, structures like these were often used to permanently record our history. Events embedded into it like a memory."

"Won't the trace be decayed already like it was at that supply depot?" Liara asked in curiosity.

"No. Special measures were taken so that the record would not decay like it would in the open," he explained.

He began to take of his gloves. Liara wanted to remind him about the radiation, but according to Dr. Michel, the inoculation should protect him for a short while. Besides, it was clear that Javik would not let anything stop him from touching that stone. She wished him good luck and walked away few paces to give him some privacy.

She only hoped that the truth was not going to be too painful for him…

* * *

"Tali… what is the situation?" Shepard asked as she walked into room.

"Shepard. I was just about to call you! We may have a problem."

At first, Shepard feared there was something wrong with the mass relay, but then Tali showed her sensory readings of the planet.

"What am I looking at?"

"Some time ago, I have detected this… a small discrepancy in the received data," Tali showed her.

"Interesting… but then again, there is a lot of interference here," Shepard immediately pointed out.

"I know, but take a look at this…" Tali would not give up. She displayed the map of the planet and overlay it with the detected interference.

"The interference is only occurring in specific areas! Now, it could be natural or…"

"… artificial," Shepard finished her thought. "Which would mean that somebody is down there."

"Exactly. Chiktikka thinks it is nothing, but…"

"Based on new information, the probability of your theory has been updated to 12.3 %, Tali'Zorah," the geth informed them.

Shepard frowned as she looked at the planet's map. Her instincts were screaming at her at that moment.

 _Something wasn't right here._

"Focus on this, Tali," Shepard decided. "I need to know if this is a natural phenomenon or not…"

"Will do."

Shepard walked away. As soon, as she was out of the room, she tapped her ear bud.

"Joker, patch me to the ground team immediately…"

A moment, later, she heard here bondmate.

"Shepard… what is it?" Liara asked in concerned voice.

"I want you and Javik to wrap things up and return... the Elerise might not be as uninhabited as we thought."

She quickly explained the situation to Liara who then agreed to come back as soon as Javik finished using his ability.

"Be careful, Liara… something is wrong here."

* * *

As Javik touched the stone with his bare fingers, he was instantly overloaded with thousands of images and information embedded within.

Back within his days, it would not happen to him. Unfortunately, his long stay among the primitives left him unable to train and it somewhat dulled his abilities. It took him a moment to focus on the specifics.

He saw how the colony came to be. A group of protheans invented a new _**cloaking device**_ , capable of evading even the reapers. They used it to bypass the massive blockade at the Serpent Nebula and reached this system. Once there, they managed to stay hidden until the harvest was over and the reapers left the galaxy.

Javik also saw that Liara was correct as well. The colony was founded by people from the asari uplift project. When they ran from the reapers, they took the asari with them. The _**New Elerise**_ was found.

To prevent discovery, the prothean survivors chose not to venture back out into the galaxy. Instead, they slowly built the super-weapon that was supposedly capable to destroy the reapers once and for all. Javik saw that the plan ultimately backfired on them in the manner that they already guessed.

But when he focused on the last records, he got confused. In the aftermath of the Crucible's activation, people were dying from the radiation… that much was clear. But there was no desperate record of the last survivor.

Instead, there was a strong mental imprint in its place:

" _ **The empire will endure."**_

He let go of the stone, deep in thought.

" _If they all died, how could the empire endure?"_ he thought.

He looked behind him. Liara was waiting for him at the edge of the plaza. She has just finished speaking into her radio and was signaling him to come to her. There was a sudden change in the way the wind was blowing and he looked closely at the ruins around him as he sniffed the air.

And then it struck him.

" _Of course. The empire could endure… because not all of them died"_

Javik silently growled as his four eyes narrowed. He should have felt it before. He was so overwhelmed by this place that he didn't…. and so he allowed himself to walk into an ambush.

" _They were not alone on this planet. The enemies have surrounded them… and they were about to attack. His time among the primitives must have really dulled his senses…"_

With lightning reflexes he drew his assault rifle and readied his biotics.

He was about to warn his companion when he felt something hitting him in the exposed skin of his hand – the one place not currently covered by his armor. He lifted his hand to see what it was.

 _A dart._

His four eyes rolled into his head as he helplessly fell to the ground.

Liara saw Javik collapse to the ground as two armored figures suddenly appeared near him.

" _Shepard was right,"_ she thought even as she prepared to defend herself. She primed her biotics, ready to deploy a singularity near them.

However, before she could to that, more armored figures decloaked, this time around her… four. _**Ten**_ **.**

They all wore helmets and she could not see who they were. Although, judging by the prothean particle rifles they carried, she had a good guess. They were all aiming at her and she knew that she stood no chance.

With no way out, she put her hands up, hoping that the gesture of surrender was culturally universal.

Along with the motion, she inconspicuously activated her distress beacon. She silently cursed when it twice vibrated against her skin, indicating that it was being actively jammed and could not reach Normandy.

" _We mean you no harm!"_ she tried calling to them in the prothean language.

The attackers did not react as they edged closer and closer…

* * *

"What did you learn, Tali?" Shepard asked as the quarian engineer came running into the CIC.

"Shepard, it's a cloaking device!" Tali announced breathlessly. "Someone is using a cloak to mask a large portion of that planet."

"How is that possible?" Shepard wondered in astonishment. "We did visual surveys… I thought the cloaking device could only mask energy emissions"

Instantly, she remembered Legion and the _no windows_ policy on geth ships.

"Not this one…" Tali clarified. "If I am right, they can hide or replace all emissions, even light. They can _literally_ make us see whatever they want"

"Tali'Zorah is correct" Chiktikka joined them in the CIC. "She decoded the seed number used to generate the random signal…"

Shepard nodded. As an engineer, she could fully appreciate the difficulty of what Tali just accomplished.

Unfortunately, she did not have time to give her the praise she deserved.

"Liara!" she screamed into her microphone. "We have confirmed presence on the planet. Get back now!"

" _Understood, Shepard. We are returning now,"_ Liara replied.

Meanwhile, Shepard considered their situation. They have been transmitting messages ever since entering the system.

If there was someone on the planet with such high level technology, she had to assume they heard the messages alright but chose to ignore them.

" _Or perhaps they did not believe us…"_ Shepard had a terrifying thought.

Regardless, the smart thing to do was to withdraw and carefully consider their next moves.

She nervously eyed the monitor which showed Javik's and Liara's position in relation to the shuttle. After few minutes, she frowned as they were moving to it in an absurdly sluggish pace.

"Liara, what's taking so long? We have to get out of here!"

" _The road was damaged, Shepard. We are doing the best we can. Liara out."_

Shepard cursed. Another ten minutes and they were still not in the shuttle…

Just as she was about to shout again, Tali inconspicuously gestured at her to mute the channel.

"Shepard… we are now detecting the same kind of discrepancy directly from their position," Tali said when she muted the channel.

"Are you saying… oh god," Shepard realized what it meant and gulped down.

" _Could somebody be impersonating Liara?"_

She turned the microphone back on. "Liara… can you please give me your personal identification code?"

Nothing but silence on the other side.

"Liara?"

Suddenly, the signal from the ground team went dead and their lifesigns instantly vanished from the display.

Before anyone could say another word, half of the consoles in Normandy's CIC sounded an alarm.

Not only did the ground team and the shuttle disappear, but Joker now had even more shocking report.

"Shepard… the mass relay just vanished from our sensors!" he reported.

"How can the relay…" she began saying before turning to Tali. "Can they possibly cloak an entire relay?"

Tali shrugged. "It would not surprise me…"

"Shepard-spectre," Chiktikka spoke. "If we immediately jump to the relay's last known coordinates, we should still be able to calculate its present position."

"No," she decided right away.

To do so, they would have to leave their people behind. She was not going to do that. And she was just about done playing this hide and seek game. She ordered that communication be opened on all channels.

"To the inhabitants of this world… we did not come to harm you. Everything we said in our broadcasting is the truth. The reapers are gone and the galaxy is free. We only wish to establish peaceful relations with your people"

"However, know that we consider kidnapping of our crewmembers an act of aggression and _**will**_ respond accordingly"

She waited a minute for a reply that never came. If they were heard, they were again ignored. Obviously, whoever was hiding on Elerise thought she was making empty threats. By hiding the relay, they prevented Normandy from escaping or calling for reinforcements… or so they assumed.

" _Thank the god for the QEC…"_ Shepard thought as she turned to the geth.

"Chiktikka, use Normandy's quantum communicator… inform the Citadel and the geth about the recent development here," she instructed.

"Please request a geth fleet to stand by… if we do not report for more than an hour, have them come here. And warn them to use reaper IFFs."

The invasion of synthetics was not the brightest diplomatic move. Unfortunately, the geth were the only navy in the galaxy with enough ships equipped with reaper IFFs.

Contrary to what the public believed, only certain kinds of reaper technology were destroyed by the Crucible. Namely, the unique components responsible for reaper sentience, like their main CPUs and quantum blue boxes. The Crucible also completely destroyed the nanotechnology responsible for indoctrination.

However, the more _conventional_ portions of their 'bodies', such as the ship mounted weaponry and FTL drives were left fully functional.

After the victory, the allied war council decided to have the reaper corpses carved up and salvaged for useful resources and equipment. Of course, only when it was thoroughly verified that indoctrination was no longer a threat.

It was a controversial decision, but since illegal salvage was going to happen regardless, they figured that all of galaxy might as well profit and not just few criminals. Besides, scrapping of the reaper's oversized eezo cores alone was a large boost to the otherwise decimated galactic economy.

The salvaged reaper tech was distributed equally among the victorious allies or at their special request.

Since the geth planned to thoroughly explore the relay network in the following years, they asked for large number of the reaper IFFs and the war council granted their request.

Shepard was glad they did because now it meant that they could assist Normandy, if necessary…

Chiktikka's headlights blinked few more times before it confirmed the order.

"The message has been transmitted. The reinforcements are ready and awaiting your orders, Shepard-spectre."

" _Good"_ Shepard thought. In the meantime, Normandy can look for Liara and Javik.

" _We may have yet another problem…"_ Joker announced over the intercom.

" _I am detecting an approaching ship… apparently, it's a_ _ **prothean battlecruiser**_ _. And it is powering weapons."_

" _So it's true…"_ Shepard thought in shock.

Despite all odds, the protheans were still alive… and they were attacking them!

"Prepare for battle."


	6. Chapter 6

**Earth, 2186 CE**

Liara was sitting in a hospital chair near Shepard's bed, holding her hand. She has been there almost constantly these days. Ever since they told her that she should wake up any day now.

The crucible's activation injured her beloved, but the doctors fixed the worst damage. Now all they could do was wait and see whether her body could restore itself back to health.

The unmoving hand slightly jerked in hers and the asari looked up. Usually, it was only involuntary muscle spasms, and she would lower her head again in disappointment. But this time, she could see Shepard's eyes opening.

"Jane!" she exclaimed happily before pressing a button to summon the medical staff.

"Hi, Liara. It is _so_ good to see you…" Shepard uttered in raspy voice and tried to smile.

Liara wanted to hug her, but did not want to aggravate her injury so she just gave her a peck on her forehead.

"What happened? Did it work?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, my love. The reapers are gone. We have won," Liara answered.

"How?"

"When you connected the Crucible with the Citadel, it discharged some energy into the relay network. It deactivated all reaper technology," she explained.

"So the relay is intact? And Earth? The Crucible did not explode?" she asked and Liara happily nodded to all her questions.

"There was no radiation? No space time anomalies?" she posed further questions.

Liara thought that Shepard's queries were strange but she answered them nonetheless. She suspected that her lover was still under the effect of the drugs. Liara wanted to calm her mind and so she told her everything that happened.

Suddenly, Shepard grasped her hand. "How is that possible?! You are lying… tell me the truth!"

"Shepard! You are hurting me!" Liara screamed as Shepard gripped her hand with surprising strength.

One that she should not be capable of in this state…

"Tell me the truth! What really happened to the reapers? Did they indoctrinate you all?" she kept yelling.

Liara shook her grip off before jumping from her chair.

"What got into you?!" she asked while staring at Shepard in shock. Then some shadow of understanding passed her face and she looked around the room suspiciously.

"I remember now…" she said while backing away from Shepard's bed in panic.

"This is _**not**_ what really happened here… and you are not my Shepard! Who are you? What is happening?"

The Shepard imposter in the bed stared at her silently before speaking in alien voice.

"You are correct, Liara T'Soni."

The scenery around them changed as the hospital room disappeared.

Suddenly, Liara was standing in an old prothean city, filled with abandoned decaying buildings. There was a single armored humanoid standing in front of her, with their face hidden by helmet.

"I remember now…" Liara repeated. This was the place where she and Javik were captured. But she sensed that it wasn't real. The attackers were doing something to her mind.

"What did you do to Javik? What do you want from us? Who are you?!" she asked in anger.

"Your companion is unharmed… we are currently probing your minds," it casually informed her.

The thought of her mental violation made Liara sick and revolted and she tried jumping up and tackling the figure to the ground… only for her to pass right through as if it was merely a ghost.

She could sense a strange amusement coming from the creature as she gathered herself from the ground.

"You cannot harm me in this mental state."

"And as for who we are… you already know that," the masked figure continued without interruption.

"Protheans… you are the protheans," Liara deduced.

It was the only logical explanation. The system's mass relay was inactive until Normandy came along and they needed reaper IFF to get safely through. Nobody else could possibly reach this system as conventional FTL travel was impossible in the galactic core.

The figure nodded, confirming her thoughts. "Yes… we are what you call protheans."

As soon as the masked figure admitted its identity to Liara, its image changed. Its mask melted off and suddenly there was Javik's distant cousin standing before her – a male prothean, four eyes with a hammer like head.

The prothean noticed the change.

"Interesting that your mind gave me this appearance…" he noted with amusement as he examined his body.

"What else would I see you like?" Liara replied tersely.

She wondered whether the prothean species physically changed during its 50 000 years of isolation. She supposed that it was possible.

"Never mind," he changed the topic. "What matters is that you found our refuge…"

He stepped closer to her. "Tell me, _Liara T'Soni_ , did the _enemy_ send you here? Does your species serve the reapers now?!"

Liara understood then. At first, she was baffled why the protheans would attack one of their own. She saw them with her own eyes as they took down Javik. But it was all clear now.

"You think we are indoctrinated…"

The figure nodded. "By our estimates, the next reaper harvest is to occur just about now… you could say that we have been expecting you."

"Normally, we would kill enemy's servants on sight, but you and your friend are a special case."

Liara turned her head in anger. "If you have examined our minds, you know that we are not indoctrinated! That we have destroyed the reapers almost thirty years ago!"

The prothean nodded. "Indeed… and we believe that you believe that," he admitted.

"However, it would be a simple matter for the enemy to implant the memories in you… our ancestors recorded that the reapers would often use such deceptions."

Liara sighed. She wanted to yell at him for being ridiculous, but his concerns were not without merit. If their roles were reversed, she suspected that she would treat his stories with the equal level of paranoia…

Then, a thought occurred to her.

"What did you do to our ship?" she asked and the prothean paused for a moment.

"It detected our presence some time go… it is being dealt withas we speak" he told her.

Liara smirked even though she was petrified with fear for her bondmate.

"If you go against Shepard, you're as good as dead… she destroyed the reapers! The enemy you ran from! What do you think she will do to you?" she tried to sound brave.

If her taunt had any impact, the prothean did not let it show.

"Understand that we do not bear you any hate," he told her. "But there are too many suspicious circumstances surrounding your arrival."

"How did you arrive into this system? Our ancestors never managed to get the relay device working after their _Great_ _Weapon_ misfired."

"Eventually, they came to believe that the _Crucible_ was just another of enemy's deception… and yet here you are, claiming that you used it to kill them."

"And why do we detect enemy's technology on your vessel?"

He kept spouting question after question until Liara was overwhelmed.

"How can I prove that we are telling you the truth?" she said in desperation.

"Show me everything," he replied. "Everything that led to the enemy's destruction… unfortunately, your companion had only partial recollection of these events."

Liara nodded. "Very well. I will show you everything"

"Leave nothing out…" the prothean warned her. "Your life and the lives of everyone on your space ship rest on you."

Liara swallowed nervously before she began speaking. "I suppose for me, it all started on one prothean dig site…"

As she began her narration, the scenery changed again. This time they were inside an abandoned mine. There was a young asari scientist trapped in a stasis bubble, desperately calling for help. Fortunately, the first human spectre and her companions came to rescue her…

* * *

 **Elsewhere in the system**

"Steady…" Shepard whispered as she watched the tactical display.

As soon as the other ship popped out of FTL in front of them, she gave the order.

"Fire!"

Already primed and ready, Normandy's thanix cannon fired the round. A metal slug accelerated to fraction of the speed of light impacted the enemy's vessel.

"Direct hit!" a crewmember reported. "Their weapons are down… propulsion as well."

Shepard released the breath she has been holding.

"Excellent…"

"Joker, take us back to Elerise. Let's find Liara and Javik and then get the hell out of here!"

" _Yes, ma'am. We are on our way."_

Finally allowed to relax, Shepard slumped down in a chair in the tactical center.

She replayed the events of the past two hours in her mind…

After the protheans attacked them at Elerise, Shepard was forced to break off the orbit. In terms of raw power output, the prothean battlecruiser was much more powerful than the Normandy. Suddenly, Shepard understood how the protheans managed to resist the reapers for centuries.

The battlecruiser was shaped and armed similarly to _**Destiny Ascension**_ – the flagship of asari fleet. In fact, it looked like an older and much smaller version of that vessel.

A century ago, the asari came up with plans for their new super-dreadnought literally out of the blue. Everyone, especially the turians, was baffled by its advanced technology. It was now clear to Shepard where the asari got their inspiration. Picking up schematics in the prothean archives on Thessia, they must have improved on the design with their own ingenuity.

Still, even the original prothean version was more than enough. In a stand-up fight, the Normandy did not stand a chance against them. Counting in their cloaking ability and it was an outright suicide.

But fortunately, there were also factors that played to Normandy's favor.

As Tali determined, the prothean ship was old. It reminded her of some of the older ships in the quarian flotilla, many of them dating all the way back to the Morning War. To keep them functioning for so long, they had to be constantly retrofitted and repaired. And since the quarian factories and shipyards were gone, mismatching alien components had to be used instead.

The prothean ship seemed to have a similar life story. An exact measurement was impossible under battle conditions. However, Tali suggested that parts of the ship's superstructure could still be original, 50 000 years old.

Another thing playing in their favor was the enemy's tactics.

While technologically advanced, the enemy's attacks lacked the finesse one would expect from someone as powerful. They were not bad, but certainly no match for Joker's pilot skills.

Shepard supposed that they had not much opportunity for training while isolated in the galactic core. Indeed, the enemy's tactics, while meticulous and orderly, seemed to be entirely text-book. There was no improvisation, no surprise, no guile…

It was like the battlecruiser was manned by recruits straight out of the training – very well versed in theory, but only minimal practical experience.

When Shepard realized that, she devised a plan.

First, she drew them away from the planet and into the open space. With the protheans constantly engaging their cloaking device, it was too dangerous to remain at one place for too long.

Seeing that the battlecruiser was going to follow her anywhere, she ordered an FTL jump to the fifth planet of the system – a gas giant. As soon as they were there, she had Normandy positioned in perfect angle to fire the thanix cannon when the battlecruiser would catch up with them.

By analyzing their technology, Tali theorized that they would have to wait for few seconds after coming out of FTL before engaging the cloak. Shepard was counting on that.

Predictably, the battlecruiser exited the FTL exactly where conventional tactics told them to and without the cloak… just as Shepard hoped for. Earlier, she realized that these protheans were using the tactics described by Javik in the _**Journeys with a prothean**_. She was glad that Liara made her read that book.

With the battlecruiser's sensors momentarily blinded by the gas giant's magnetic field, she was able to make a precise hit to disable it. She purposefully chose a non-lethal way to take them down that left them with a life support. She did not come here to start a war or wipe these people out.

But at the same time, she was determined to get Liara and Javik back…

* * *

 _ **Elsewhere on the planet**_

"So this is how you located us…" the prothean said as Liara showed him the image of the Archives on Thessia.

"Yes… we followed the few traces you left behind"

The prothean looked outside the temple, towards the Armali city.

"And your people still live on this world?"

Liara nodded. "Yes. And on the Citadel and many other worlds in the galaxy. The asari are strong part of the galactic community."

"Many of those things, we owe to the teachings you left us in your Archives," she admitted.

The prothean looked at her curiously. " _Our_ _Archives_? They are on _your_ planet, aren't they? That makes them _your Archives._ "

Liara smiled. "I know a prothean who would strongly disagree with that interpretation…

"Javik thinks that since the Archives are prothean, they do not belong to us…"

"Because you are not protheans?" he asked her and Liara nodded.

"Most interesting," he remarked as he looked at Armali's horizon again.

Liara walked over to join him.

"I have a question…" she told him.

"We know that some asari came to this world with you… may I ask what happened to them?"

The prothean studied her for a moment before turning his head. "I am sorry. It is not my place to tell…" he said, dismissing her question.

"In fact, I think that I have seen enough," he suddenly told her, gesturing at the mental illusions around them.

Liara looked up. "So you believe me now?" she asked.

"Yes… I believe you," he said and made a prothean equivalent of smile before everything turned to black and Liara saw no more…

* * *

The Normandy arrived at the orbit of Elerise.

Immediately, Shepard ordered the second shuttle into the air to search for the missing ground team.

But before they could fly out of the hanger bay, Joker reported in panic voice.

"Shepard… you are not going to believe this. We now have _**two**_ prothean battlecruisers approaching our position!"

Shepard looked at the tactical display and cursed. Things just got a lot more complicated.

* * *

Liara felt a life returning to her as she opened her eyes. She was sitting in some metal chair inside plain looking room.

She momentarily panicked when she saw two armored figures looming above her. However, they merely released her restraints and pulled her out of the chair.

"We have disabled your biotics, but they will return in few hours…" one of them informed her. The voice was heavily distorted by the helmet, sounding unnatural.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked as they led her to the door.

"Our leaders wish to see you… will you cooperate or do we have to restrain you?"

Liara spotted handcuffs hanging by the belt and realized that it was not an empty threat.

"I'll cooperate…" she said in meek voice. Without weapons or her biotics, she could not hope to escape them anyway. Her captors said nothing as they led her out of the room and into a corridor.

As they emerged she could see Javik being led out from the opposite doors – in handcuffs and snarling at his escort. He looked unharmed, but was very vocal about his predicament.

"I demand to be released immediately!" he yelled only to be manhandled by the guards as they led him into an elevator. Liara and her escort followed them closely.

Once there, Javik finally spotted Liara. His four eyes quickly scanned her for injury before addressing their captors.

"Let the asari go… she was only acting under my command. I am the one you want," he told them, surprising Liara.

" _Is Javik trying to sacrifice himself for me?"_

Her thought was cut short when one of the armored figures punched Javik into stomach. "Shut up!"

After the elevator reached its stop, they were led through yet another corridor before arriving at a rather lavish looking room. It contrasted their former prison cells immensely but right now, both Liara and Javik focused on something else.

Inside the room, there was a window with an open balcony and for the first time, Liara and Javik saw what was outside. Utterly speechless, they both walked onto the balcony with their captors following closely.

Liara could not believe the sight before her. In front of them was a vista of a huge megapolis as far as eye could see, teeming with life.

The numerous flying skycars suggested technologically advanced society.

And it was prothean.

The architecture was _little_ different, but Liara imagined that Feros might have looked like this 50 000 years ago.

It was unbelievable.

"It's true… it's really true," Javik mumbled in trembling voice. He just saw a proof that not only did his people survive, but they also prospered.

They were both so captivated by the sight that they did not even see the large group of people entering the room.

"Behold… _**the Exarch of the Prothean Empire**_!" their captors suddenly announced. Liara and Javik turned to see unit of guards in ceremonial robes standing in the middle of the room. In their midst was their principal.

As that _principal_ stepped forward into the light, Liara could not believe her eyes.

"It can't be, it just can't be…" Javik mumbled in shock before he fainted.

* * *

As the two battlecruiser slowly came upon Normandy, Shepard was barking order after order. She disabled the first ship by a trickery and deceit. Her chances of doing so again against _two_ ships were slim at best.

"Send a message to the geth, tell them that we encountered heavy resistance and need immediate backup!"

"Joker, prepare to break orbit!"

She would have to withdraw for a while, although she did not know where yet. The relay was hidden and they could not risk FTL in galactic core to go somewhere else…

"Shepard… they are powering down their weapons!" Tali suddenly said and Shepard looked at the tactical display. The two ships were standing down. It was true.

" _Incoming message, Shepard…"_ Joker announced. _"It says that they wish to end the hostilities,"_ he told her in slightly skeptical voice.

Shepard was relieved to hear that but first things first.

"You have captured two of my people… I want them returned immediately." she spoke into the comm channel.

There was no response for a while before she heard a familiar voice coming on the other side.

" _Shepard, is that you?"_

"Liara! Where are you? Are you alright?"

" _Yes. Javik and I are in their capital city… we are fine. What about you?"_

"Took a few hits, but nothing serious," she said before asking. "Why did they capture you?

" _They thought we worked for the reapers…"_ Liara explained to her what happened. Shepard nodded. She suspected that that might be the case.

" _I spoke with their leader. They apologize for the incident and wish to establish peaceful contact with the Citadel races."_

"That's good to hear…" Shepard said before she remembered something. She had a strong feeling that it was really her bondmate that was talking on the other side, but she had to be certain.

"Liara… what are the names of our daughters?"

" _Benny and Hannah… why?"_ Liara said in confused voice.

"Just checking if its really you," Shepard said with smile.

Tali who's been examining the incoming signal this whole time, gave her an all clear too.

" _Shepard, they are going to have a victory celebration and want to invite us…"_ Liara said after a while, seemingly talking to someone in the background.

"Alright. We'll be there," Shepard agreed. A victory celebration for a war that lasted 50 000 years. She definitely wanted to see that.

" _Then I will see you soon, my love"_

"Wait, Liara!" she quickly added. "Who are they then… are they really protheans?"

" _Yes. Yes, they are, but… well, you'll see"_ Liara said in a mischievous voice before closing the channel.

"Shepard… you have to see this. I think they are disabling their cloaking device," Tali said, pointing at the display of the planet.

Shepard was speechless as signs of advanced civilization started popping up all over their sensors. Where there were previously only empty basins and seashores visible, large megalopolises appeared instead. The hyper modern cities were surrounded by the supporting infrastructure – farms, power plants and garbage and water treatment facilities. The civilization on the surface was surprisingly concentrated in specific areas. Shepard supposed that this could be due to the cloaking device they were forced to use.

She briefly wondered how many people could live down there before the geth answered her. "We are detecting approximately 8 billion inhabitants on the surface…" Chiktikka reported.

" _I bet that Javik loves this,"_ Shepard thought. Not only were the protheans alive, but they were _**very**_ far away from extinction.

The protheans transmitted landing coordinates to them and Normandy headed in the specified direction.

Meanwhile, Shepard sent a message through the QEC to hold off the cavalry for now. And not a moment too soon because apparently the geth fleet was just about to enter the relay at the Serpent Nebula…

Fortunately, they were no longer needed and Shepard told them to stand by. With any luck, a peaceful resolution might be possible after all.

One of the prothean cruisers took off to the gas giant to rescue their disabled friend while the other escorted Normandy to the planet's surface.

* * *

Normandy was pointed to a landing site in what Shepard presumed was the capital city. After the ship landed on one of the platforms, Shepard went into the airlock.

Two crewmembers accompanied her as a security escort. The sensors indicated that there was already a sizable crowd on the other side and they wanted to avoid any further incidents. Finally, the door opened and the crowd erupted in cheers when they saw Shepard emerging.

Shepard's mouth fell open when she saw the faces of the large crowd that was gathered in front of her ship. The dock officials were preventing them from coming too close, but that was not the surprising part.

Her first thought was that Joker must have taken a wrong turn somewhere and they accidentally arrived to a different planet.

But no. There was still a living prothean city around her as a testament to the fact that they were in the right place. Further, she could clearly see Javik standing among the gathered crowd.

Shepard was about to slap herself awake when she heard a familiar voice.

"Shepard!"

The human spectre looked in the direction and saw her bondmate as she finally pushed her way through the crowd. If not for her distinct armor, Shepard would almost overlook her.

The dock workers let Liara pass and so she and Shepard ran to each other before fervently embracing and kissing. They were both very much relieved to see each other again. After both of them made sure the other one was well, Shepard gestured to the crowd, silently asking Liara for an explanation.

Meanwhile Javik was sticking out like a sore thumb and looking very awkward as he was currently surrounded by a sea of… _**blue**_.

"They are asari, my love!" Liara told her with excitement reflected in her voice.

"All of them are asari…"

* * *

A/N: I originally wanted to post this chapter at the same time as the next (final) chapter, but I ran into some delay, so… here it is. The final chapter will be an epilogue to answer all the remaining questions. I hope to post it over weekend at the latest.

I wish to thank everyone who read this story this far. I am especially grateful to reviewers for their encouragement and suggestions. Thanks guys! :-)


	7. Epilogue

**A/N: Sorry about the delay. Here it is. The final chapter. I hope you enjoyed the story. Thank you for reading and see you next time! :-)**

* * *

 **Capital city of the prothean empire, Elerise**

Shepard and Liara spent only three days on Elerise before Normandy headed back home. Still, it was probably the most interesting three days of their lives.

After undergoing all the official greetings and other ceremonies, the _Elerisians_ told them the full version of the story that started 50 000 years ago…

As a last bid for survival, a group of scientists from the Asari Uplift Project devised an _active cloaking device_. Unlike Normandy's silent running, it was able to hide them from all scanners, including those used by the reapers.

Sadly, by that point, the prothean empire was already shattered. Its fleets were gone and the remaining colony worlds crumbling as they became infiltrated by indoctrinated agents.

The few surviving groups could no longer trust each other. The scientists realized that involving anyone else in their plan was too risky and so they decided to act on their own.

A distant star system was selected to serve as a secret evacuation site. A location so inaccessible that the reapers or the other (potentially indoctrinated) protheans would never think to look for them there.

Two hundred thousand colonists, along with 80 000 asari subjects from the project, boarded their last remaining ships and journeyed there. Using the new cloaking devices, the ships passed unnoticed through enemy's territory and reached the planet in question.

There, they built the last bastion of prothean civilization and silently waited while the reapers murdered everyone else.

Many wanted to help their remaining brethren by sharing the cloaking technology, but they simply could not afford to take the risk. If it were to fall into enemy's hands, they could easily devise a countermeasure, rendering the technology useless. The reapers were nothing if not adaptive.

And so they watched with sorrow as the machines eradicated all signs of advanced life from the galaxy…

After killing everyone they could find, the reapers did one last sweep of the galaxy to look for any survivors.

Thanks to several cloaked spy-drones carefully hidden in the Serpent Nebula, the Elerisians had an advanced warning when one of the reaper capital ships finally headed into their system.

They employed the cloaking device to hide all signs of their presence. This was the pivotal moment of their history. Should the reaper detect them, they were dead…

The sentient machine methodically scanned all planets of their star system. When it arrived at Elerise, half a million souls stood with bated breaths.

They almost thought that it was over when the reaper suddenly focused the scans on the exact area where they were hiding…

But then it moved on.

 _It worked._

* * *

Shepard and the others were jointly gasping at the next part of the story which came in the form of 50 000 years old video.

On it, they saw thousands of reapers while evacuating through the Citadel relay. The spy-probes in Serpent Nebula recorded an endless stream of black ships passing through, leaving for the dark space.

It was time of great joy on Elerise. A moment they have been waiting for. Their plan was to reclaim the stars and rebuild the empire once the enemy was gone.

But something happened that put a serious hamper on that plan.

Shepard cringed when she saw _**Sovereign**_ again. The one reaper remained behind even after the others left for dark space. It deactivated the Citadel relay behind them and shutdown the station's power. Afterwards, it departed to an unknown location.

That left Elerisians with a dilemma. They could not safely reclaim the stars with a reaper still lurking about. They no longer had the ability to destroy even one reaper and even if they did, the machine would probably just call back its friends from the dark space…

This was the first time the Elerisians had to consider the possibility of remaining on their refugee world on more permanent basis. Up until then, their plan has always been to leave once the danger was gone… but that might no longer be possible.

It was a horrible realization, but they did not get to ponder it for long before another unexpected thing happened.

Few months after the reapers left, their spy-probes detected an active distress beacon from the Citadel…

This was a total mystery to them as no ship came near the station since the reapers left. Eventually, they sent a rescue team inside a cloaked shuttle to carefully investigate. Many feared it might be a trap from the reapers.

But to their utter shock, the search team discovered 12 living protheans aboard the Citadel!

The 12 protheans were even more shocked that someone actually came for them.

They identified themselves as the only survivors from the Ilos project. Top scientists who travelled to the Citadel using custom-build mass relay.

Their mission was to sabotage the station and prevent the reapers from ever returning. With no way off the station and limited supplies, they expected a quick death.

They only activated their short-range distress beacons as a formality.

Their surprise was immense when help actually came! After thoroughly confirming their story, all survivors were evacuated to Elerise.

Liara shed a tear at this point. She knew parts of that story from talking to Vigil on Ilos. By blocking the Citadel, the survivors from Ilos made a vital contribution in the fight against reapers.

But like the prothean VI, Liara feared that after completing their mission, they suffered a gruesome death on the deserted space station.

To know that these heroes not only survived but got to spend the rest of their days among their people was truly heartwarming…

* * *

After consulting with the Ilos survivors, the Elerisians had to come up with a new plan.

The Citadel relay was sabotaged, but Sovereign was at large. They knew it could one day become a deadly threat for the next cycle. They also suspected that there may be even more reaper agents left within the galaxy.

Therefore, they returned to the idea that the prothean empire once entertained but never implemented – a super-weapon capable of destroying all reapers at once.

The protheans were unsure whether _**the Crucible**_ could reach the reapers in the dark space, but that was only secondary.

Their primary goal was to eliminate all remaining reaper presence _within_ the galaxy. Once the imminent danger was eliminated, they could always use the weapon again to defend the galaxy against any attack from the outside.

And so the construction started.

Since they did not dare to venture far beyond the boundaries of their star system, it took over thousand years and countless generations of Elerisians before the weapon was build.

But all their work was ultimately for naught for they underestimated the necessity of controlling the Crucible's energy output.

When they activated the weapon, instead of sending energy wave through the entire relay network as it was supposed to, it irradiated their own star system…

* * *

By the time the Crucible was fired, the society on Elerise was very much different from the one that arrived there in the first place.

There were still _two_ sentient species on Elerise, but only _one_ nation.

After 1500 years, all the asari who were originally taken from Thessia were gone. Their descendants were not like their mothers.

For starters, the protheans did further genetic therapy on the asari.

They succeeded in implanting them with rudimentary version of the prothean " _touch-ability_ ". They also improved their eezo metabolism, allowing them to better survive in environment that was not as rich with the element as their homeworld.

But the most important difference was familial – virtually all of the second and third generation asari had prothean fathers, were raised as protheans, and thought of themselves as such.

It was the natural outcome of the situation.

Even back then, the asari were sensual and sexually curious. Due to evolution, they also instinctively desired the best individuals as parents for their daughters. Therefore, when an opportunity presented itself to mate with their _goddesses_ , they all took it.

The protheans were so much more advanced, but even they were not immune to asari's charms.

Increasingly, both male and female protheans would embrace the daughters of Thessia as their lovers and wives.

Eventually, this could have become a problem for the protheans as the coupling with asari produced only asari children.

However, the wiser among them saw just how well such asari children functioned in their society. They realized that the asari's unique reproduction method was the best way to uplift them once and for all.

But they needed to handle it right. Laws were enforced so that all those mating with asari had to have a progeny of their own species as well.

This created an interesting family dynamics where a prothean couple would live with one or more asari. All their children, asari or prothean, would grow up as siblings.

Thus, the colonists utterly succeeded in their original project. Using love and parenthood, the asari were uplifted to a prothean level of culture and development within one generation!

By the time of the crucible activation, both species were flourishing on Elerise and numbered in millions. But sadly, their idyllic existence was about to change…

* * *

The dark energy radiation that flooded Elerise and its star system had a different effect on the two species.

On molecular level, the asari genes are extremely resilient to damage. This is a reason/consequence of their natural longevity and of their reproduction method. To withstand the effects of the meld, the genetic material in asari ovum had to be well protected from excessive irradiation.

Shepard remembered this fact from her biology lessons at the academy. Back then, her teacher jokingly compared the asari's genetic resilience to the _Deinococcus Radiodurans_ – terrestrial bacteria that sometimes grew inside ship's eezo cores.

The asari on Elerise were exposed to the misfiring Crucible like everyone else. But thanks to their biology, they were able to use medical and technological means to recover.

On the other hand, the Javik's species (referred to as _ancient ones_ by contemporary Elerisians) was not so lucky.

Those who survived the initial radiation blast were left with genetic damage and tumors. And while their advanced medical technology was able to repair most of the damage, there was one thing they could not fix – _sterility_.

The persistent radiation levels rendered both sexes sterile on the genetic level.

The ideal solution for the protheans would be to leave Elerise, but the relay was damaged in a highly unusual way.

It seemingly reported normal operations, but every probe they'd sent through would be immediately destroyed.

They could not get out of their star system.

As their numbers dwindled, the protheans tried various desperate means to keep themselves alive, including cloning. However, the scarcity of undamaged genetic material meant that even this plan ultimately failed. The last of the _ancient ones_ died out exactly 48 014 years ago.

The original protheans were gone, but their culture and society lived on. The asari on Elerise still saw themselves as protheans and proudly carried forward the legacy of their fathers…

Unfortunately, they were unable to fix the mass relay and could not get out of the galactic core by any other means.

Eventually, they also lost all means of monitoring or communicating with the outside galaxy.

Their last functioning spy-probe in Serpent Nebula failed and self-destructed about 6 thousand years before the asari from Thessia arrived at the Citadel…

* * *

Naturally, Javik was not happy that his species died out on Elerise and that the asari took over the empire. He voiced his displeasure, but the other _protheans_ were unimpressed.

They proceeded to give him a very detailed lecture on the subject, but the gist of it was this:

" _Well, tough luck. That's evolution for you, baby. We were strong and you were weak… we lived and you died"_

Shepard would almost feel offended for him. But as she remembered, Javik told her those exact same ideas during the reaper war. It was fascinating to watch him squirm as every one of his annoying rants was suddenly turned against him.

In fact, the more she talked with the people of Elerise, the more she saw subtle character similarities between them and Javik. Despite their biology, she could no longer see them as asari.

Liara agreed with that assessment. After spending single day among them, she had to admit that the Elerisians were no longer her people. The instinctive connection the asari felt towards one another was simply not present with them.

Among the asari, consensus was usually achieved through empathy and subtle manipulation.

The Elerisians were, on the other hand, opinionated, argumentative and sometimes, outright obnoxious.

The prothean cultural assimilation was absolute. Biologically, they were like Liara, but everything else was different. From the day of their birth, the Elerisians lived differently than their _cousins_ on Thessia.

They all had prothean sounding names. Their language evolved mostly from prothean, but they also used some words that Liara believed came from ancient asari.

They celebrated different holidays and worshipped different deities. Everything, including their fashion was markedly different from anything the asari had.

The climacteric stages of maiden, matron and matriarch were somewhat blurred with the Elerisians.

For instance, they typically had the first child when they were about a century old, much sooner than the asari. Consequently, their education system was speedier and their youngsters would start to work earlier than Liara's people.

By the age most asari were just starting independent life, the Elerisians were already raising family.

" _Job right after school, children early… sounds familiar?"_ Shepard teased her.

Liara smiled. Her life choices always set her apart from her asari peers, but as it turned out, she would make a fine prothean!

* * *

Over the millennia, the Elerisians often wondered what happened to the original planet of their mothers and whether its people still existed.

Therefore, Liara was as much a storyteller to them as they were to her. Thankfully, Liara knew the asari history very well and was able to answer all their questions.

Curiously, the Elerisians were very baffled by the fact that Liara did not consider herself a prothean. More so than Liara was by the opposite.

Still, all of them were very eager to hear about the galaxy and what else their cousins from Thessia accomplished.

They had a 50 000 years of catching up to do. Liara imagined that similar sentiment would be felt on the asari worlds…

* * *

To facilitate the possibility of cultural exchange, the Exarch of the Prothean Empire, _**Ilerie Khasan**_ , used the Normandy's QEC to communicate with councilor Tevos.

The councilor was shocked and amazed to learn that the protheans of Elerise were biologically asari now. News like that was going to shake the galaxy and they quickly agreed that it would be best to arrange the details of the official first contact in advance.

They also discussed the future relationship between the Citadel races and the Prothean Empire, now that it could once again join the galactic community.

The first issue would be to repair the system's mass relay.

It took some convincing to allow the Elerisians to let the Citadel and _geth_ teams do it.

Apparently, the prothean's hatred of the synthetics was alive and well among them. Their laws required that all such machines be immediately destroyed.

When the Exarch learned of Chiktikka, she was close to having the Normandy stormed by her troops.

She only relented when Shepard told them the assistance of the geth was essential for defeating the reapers.

Seeing the explosive situation, Tali felt it was her duty to defuse it. The quarian narrated the history between the quarians and the geth, from their creation until this point.

Tali's species had a reason to hate the synthetics more than anyone in the galaxy. And yet in the end, they managed to let go. And it was good that they did or else the galaxy might have ended up paying the price.

Getting both quarians _and_ geth to join the alliance against reapers was one of the key moments of war. The quarians had enough ships capable of evacuating entire star systems within hours. Billions of lives would have been lost without them.

And after the reapers tried to enslave their collective intelligence, the geth threw literally everything they had against the genocidal machines. Their sheer force even forced the reapers into defensive for a while.

Both the quarian and geth engineers helped to build the Crucible and were half the reason it worked as well as it did.

Finally, when Liara told them the latest theory of the asari anthropologists, the Exarch was convinced…

The theory held that the reapers did not consider the possibility of organics and the machines working together. For untold eons, their entire mission was built on the premise that organics and synthetics cannot live in peace. That one must always destroy the other. And perhaps in all the past cycles, that was the case.

But when the quarians and the geth broke that pattern, they threw a monkey wrench into reaper's plans. Something, that never before even entered their considerations, somehow happened… and it led to their destruction.

All because the quarians were willing to let go of hate and make peace with their creations…

Seeing some painful parallels from their own history, the Elerisian leadership was suddenly unwilling to reignite that old hatred either…

But there was still the matter of the law.

To appease the people, the Exarch issued a special degree. It exempted all synthetics that were _'members of the military alliance that defeated the reapers_ '.

The degree was termed in this exact way so the Elerisian public would eventually be willing to accept it.

It would be some time before the Elerisians would fully stomach down the concept of synthetic life, but at least they were no longer going to invade Rannoch either…

* * *

With the relay repaired, Tevos had an immediate concern about the prothean's imperialistic tendencies.

Liara's book revealed them as ruthless conquerors. She needed to know if that was still the case.

When questioned, the Exarch admitted that many within the empire would wish to reclaim everything that was lost. However, she also stressed that they were unwilling to spill the blood of their cousins to do that.

Despite their ancient sundering, they considered their relatives on Thessia to be protheans as well.

And seeing as the asari were the most powerful species in the galaxy anyway, they were willing to accept the status quo.

In the practical sense, waging any kind of war was not possible for the Elerise and would not be for a very long time. They were more than capable to protect their own borders, but did not have enough ships to go beyond that.

The resources located within the Elerise system were all they had to work with for thousands of years. And building the Crucible super-weapon drained much of them.

As a result, the Elerisians had to adopt very efficient and sustainable society model to survive.

They got most of their energy from the system's star and possessed a very advanced mass fabrication technology. All materials were recycled.

However, there was one resource that could not be replicated and was always an issue for them – element zero.

After depleting the obvious sources in their system, they had to rely on mining the surrounding areas. FTL travel was difficult in galactic core, but using trial and error approach with unmanned probes, the Elerisians charted the Oort cloud of their star system. This allowed them to mine the asteroids and comets it contained.

Still, getting eezo remained exceptionally difficult and left Elerisians permanently starved for the element… literally, as the biotic population needed it in their diet.

At one point, they even had to cap their population growth. They still needed to effectively mask their presence on the surface if necessary and their element zero supplies did not allow them to extend the cloaking device range any further.

Now, had somebody else rather than the asari become the dominant race of this cycle, the Elerisians would have been in a difficult position.

Fortunately for them, their rich and powerful cousins from Thessia genuinely wanted to help them.

A program of economic assistance was soon drafted between Thessia and Elerise. To painlessly facilitate their entry into the galactic economy, the asari agreed to buy out any bonds issued by the Elerisian government.

Naturally, there were many disputes between the Citadel races and the newly rediscovered Prothean Empire. Choosing to maintain its independence, the Elerise never became a member state of the Citadel.

But for the most part, both sides enjoyed an amicable relationship for many years to come…

* * *

Javik's disappointment was obvious. While the prothean culture and the Empire he missed so much were still alive, his species was dead. And as was usual for him, he would complain about it…

"If I wanted this, I could have just stayed on Thessia… it's like asari are playing a theatre at being prothean," he told Liara after first seeing who the Elerisians really were.

Yes. Javik was definitely not happy among his fellow _protheans_.

As for the Elerisians, their reaction was more mixed.

When Liara learned their identity and history, she wondered how they would think of Javik. Would he be a god to them like the protheans were to the ancient asari? Or would they see him as a genetic fossil… a ' _primitive_ ' as Javik liked to call the races of this cycle.

In the end, it was something between the two options. Many on Elerise were amazed that an _ancient_ was once again walking among them.

But at the same time, they were definitely not going to take any of his crap. These _prothean-asari_ saw themselves entitled to their imperial heritage just as much as Javik did.

Therefore, when he started putting them down, they aggressively retorted with insults of their own. Some of them were so bellicose that it left Javik speechless and gaping in anger.

Even though it was interesting to see these people give Javik the taste of his own medicine, Shepard and Liara tried to act as mediators so things wouldn't escalate.

But they couldn't always be there…

The first day, the tension between them peaked when Exarch Khasan reminded Javik that he was still a soldier of the imperial army and therefore subject to her orders. She then commanded that he swore an oath of fealty to her.

When he blatantly refused, she told him that disobeying a direct order in times of war was punishable by death within the Empire.

Fortunately for Javik, the war officially ended a day ago and so she would not have him executed.

Javik was about to comment on what a weak leader she was, but before he could finish, she already ordered her guards to seize him.

As a punishment for disobeying orders, she ordered that he be publically humiliated and punished.

Just as was prescribed by the prothean law… he was going to be _whipped_ in front of the people at the gates of the imperial palace.

The rest of the Normandy's crew did not witness this particular altercation.

When Shepard arrived at the imperial palace, Javik's punishment was already carried out.

The human spectre was worried for him and more than a little angry with the Elerisians for what she perceived as barbaric acts.

She expected Javik would want to leave the planet immediately, but instead something totally unexpected happened. She saw him enter with two asari/protheans flanking him and helping him to walk.

"Shepard… I was wrong," he mumbled over the pain before smiling for first time in decades.

"It seems that they learned something from us after all…" he said with laughter even as his escort pushed him into his prison cell and locked the bars behind him.

* * *

The Normandy was just about leave Elerise and Liara went to see Javik for the last time.

Fortunately, the last prothean no longer occupied a prison cell. After spending night there, the Exarch came to him the next day and offered him one last chance.

This time, Javik swore his loyalty to her and was released.

Liara found him inside his room, standing near the window and looking on the bustling city outside.

"Liara," he barely acknowledged her presence before looking out to the city again.

"Javik… we are about to leave," she told him as she joined him at the window. "Are you sure you do not want to come with us?"

Liara thought that he would take his first chance to leave, but two days later, Javik was forced to admit that he may have misjudged the people of this planet.

Despite the initial animosity between them and the unfortunate incident with him being publically flogged, he came to feel more at home on Elerise than anywhere else in the galaxy.

"Yes… this is where I belong," he told Liara. "I still think they are not my people… but perhaps they are _close enough_."

"I am glad to hear it," Liara smiled at him.

Javik was the only one from the Normandy who could never find his place in the post-war galaxy. Perhaps he would find it here.

She heard that the Elerisian scientists already contacted him about the possibility of reintroducing the _ancient genes_ into their population.

Hopefully, they would eventually be able to restore his species by cloning.

Failing that, Liara suspected that Javik was about to become a father to great many asari daughters. From what she overheard during their stay, a chance for melding with an _ancient_ was an enticing prospect for many Elerisians…

"I never thanked you for trying to bargain with them when they captured us… it was very nice," she then told him, thanking him for trying to save her earlier.

"No gratitude is necessary. It was merely a ruse… I knew that they would see _me_ as a greater threat," Javik quickly explained to her.

"If they let you go, you could then get help for me… a creative tactics. Nothing more."

Liara stared at him in shock before seeing right through his game. "Of course… what was I thinking," she smirked at his explanation. She patted him on his back before turning to leave the room.

"Liara, wait!" he called to her, making her pause and turn. "I also wanted to thank you…" he began to say before fidgeting at the words.

"I wanted to thank you for helping me find this place…" he said in uncomfortable tone. "I suspect that I could never find _all this_ without your help," he gestured at the living prothean city outside. "I won't forget it."

Liara nodded at him and smiled.

"Anytime, Javik."

 **The end.**


End file.
